A young woman’s travails and desire for self-determination are convincingly portrayed in “A Doll’s House,” in College of Marin’s Studio Theatre through Dec. 10.
Set at Christmas time in a Norwegian town in 1878, the story focuses on Nora Helmer (Katherine Rupers), a flighty young middle-class wife and mother obsessed with money. Excited at the possibility of improved income due to an impending promotion for her bank manager husband Torvald (Grisha Driscoll), she spends somewhat carelessly on Christmas gifts rather than making them by hand as she has usually done.
Nora’s hyperkinetic frivolity hides her anxiety about having forged her father’s signature after his death in order to secure funds to keep her family afloat. This was at a time when women had very few rights in business and little control over their personal lives. Torvald treats his wife as more pet than partner. Nora chafes almost imperceptibly under his dominance.
She also insincerely dotes on her children, primarily the responsibility of Anna, the Helmers’ household nanny, played with utter seriousness by theater veteran Kim Bromley. Two of the kids, Jon and Ivar, are played by the adorable Goldman siblings Lily and Evie. Nora mentions “three children” at least twice, but we never meet the third one. Her somewhat flippant attitude toward them is a precursor to her rebellious act of independence in the show’s closing scene.
Intersecting secondary plots involve Nora’s old friend Kristine Lind (Cassie Nesbit), who’s come to town in search of work, and the scofflaw Nils Krogstad (Zane Speiser), an employee at Torvald’s bank who’s in danger of losing his job and has been secretly blackmailing Nora over her forgery. An interesting plot twist is that Lind and Krogstad were formerly lovers who reunite in the Helmer residence.
A tertiary plot involves the impending demise of Dr. Rank (David Noll), an old family friend who cautions the Helmers about Krogstad’s moral decrepitude. Nesbit and Noll evoke palpable empathy for their characters, while Speiser’s Krogstad is superbly untrustworthy. Paige Fleming does a nice turn as Helene, the household maid, as does Aly Maliano as Helene’s assistant Tove.
All the performers shine in this production. Rupers is absolutely captivating as Nora. She essentially carries the show, never faltering despite a heavy line load, intense emoting and lots of activity on a sweetly authentic set by Malcolm Rodgers, one whose only (forgivable) anachronism is a reproduction of an early-20th-century Victrola record player which did not appear on the market until approximately 20 years after Henrik Ibsen’s play debuted in 1879. Not that most viewers would care or notice — people have an amazing ability to assume that if something exists, it has always existed. Pamela Johnson’s costumes are also plausibly period-appropriate. Paige Fleming’s sound design includes a very effective transition from the slowing of the Victrola to an immersive piano piece.
Because Nora abandons her marriage and family to strike out on her own, Ibsen’s original play was and is widely considered a proto-feminist polemic, although he denied that was his intention. When first performed, “A Doll’s House” was a scandal in staid Europe, interpreted as an endorsement of amorality and a threat to social stability. It’s among the most popular plays of the 19th century still done today, and one that for good reasons is on the bucket list for many aspiring actresses.
College of Marin could not have a more expert director for this show than faculty member Molly Noble, motive force behind Porchlight Theatre Company, which for years performed 19th-century plays in the Redwood Amphitheatre in the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross. Noble gets the utmost from her talented cast.
A benefit for local audiences is that Simon Stephens’ modern English translation is easily comprehensible, unlike many previous versions that adhere to the formal stilted language of the original. Seen through a modern lens, College of Marin’s “A Doll’s House” offers an intriguing view into life almost 150 years ago.
Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact him at barry.m.willis@gmail.com
What: “A Doll’s House”
Where: Studio Theatre, College of Marin, 835 College Ave., Kentfield
When: Through Dec. 10; 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays
Admission: $10 to $20
Information: pa.marin.edu/tickets
Rating (out of five stars): ★★★ 1/2
