Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 drama concerns Nora Helmer (Bunny Manchester), a wife and mother who due to her husband Torvald (Jim Nash)’s moral strictness must conceal the fact that eight years ago, she took out a sizeable loan with a false male signature to pay for his medical treatment. The fallout from this secret radically transfigures Nora’s view of her husband, her society, and herself.
Amy Herzog’s adaptation streamlines the script, but leaves all the significant plot points untouched. Though the action is distinctly of the past, with calling cards, costume balls, and doctors ordering seaside travel as medicine, it feels immediate. The show presents us with a familiar dilemma: That of what happens when our own prescribed roles, our societal expectations, bar us from a full life or healthy relationship. Nora’s pursuit of security and/or self-actualization belongs to women and men of all eras.
Jim Nash is a self-assured Torvald who would fit all too believably into our present day as a man utterly convinced of his own rectitude. As struggling widower and occasional loan shark Nils Krogstad, JP Driscoll has remarkable presence, casting a creeping shadow over Nora’s happy home. Real-life siblings BaileyGrace Sitter and Elliott Thomas-Sitter bring energy and charm to the Helmer children, Emmy and Ivar. Karl Seman is an affable and touching Dr. Rank, close friend of the Helmers, and Amanda Hurd holds her own as Nora’s friend Kristine, working widow of a marriage of convenience. Hurd’s Kristine laughs tensely through the ennui and lets her care for Nora shine even through her judgments of her. Teresa Testrake rounds out the cast as a dutiful and tender Anne-Marie, the household nanny who carries her own heartache.
Nico Lombardo’s spare set consists of several black chairs and a back wall with a single door. Costumer Ryan Ingram has dressed the cast in modern clothes in an unobtrusive black. Curiously, Kristine is the one woman in the cast who wears pants, perhaps noting her status as a worker in the public sphere and how it distances her from the idealized femininity still expected of Nora. The costumes work well with Lombardo’s striking bi-color lighting scheme. Scenes of coldness and absence wear an intense blue. Heightened passion and danger turn the scene red. The remaining scenes are plainly lit or use a bit of both. Sound is likewise stripped down, featuring sonic hums rather than melodic instrumentals. This technical minimalism invites us to focus on the dialogue itself. This only becomes an issue when characters talk about significant items, like cigars, letters, and specialty costumes, that they conspicuously do not have. And of course, we have to mention director, Carolin Lynn’s impressive stripped down concept of this classic. Her vision and direction lead this cast to a beautiful final product.
We have saved the keystone of this production for last. Nora Helmer is a legendary role in the dramatic canon, daunting in her modular shifts from chirpy coquetry to frantic despair to startling solemnity. Bunny Manchester embodies this human kaleidoscope with a conviction that allows her to navigate every turn without ever losing her authenticity. Even at her most flirtatious and performative, this Nora always feels grounded in truth, and we are willing to follow her as she makes her own wild and difficult choices. Anchored by this full-hearted performance, the Erie Playhouse’s A Doll’s House is a captivating triumph.
A Doll’s House runs through April 26 at the Erie Playhouse.
Get tickets here!
Review by Karalyn Headley
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