A Doll's House

It has been quite a few years since I last saw a New Forest Players production so I was very much looking forward to the visit. I had personally never heard of this play by Henrik Ibsen, but luckily my wife has used passages from this play for drama exams, so therefore she was able to give me an outline of the story

Set in Norway in the latter part of the 19th Century the central character is Nora Helmer the devoted wife Torvald, a senior manager at large a bank.  In the past, in order to secure a loan to pay for a trip to Italy that would improve the health of her husband and thus save his life, she forged her father’s signature.  Krogstad an employee at the same bank as her husband reveals that he knows about the fraud and the plot turns to blackmail. Nora’s life will never be the same again 

I had been expecting the play to be long and heavy going, but I found this condensed translation by Samuel Adamson to be absolutely enthralling and very enjoyable. An excellent cast that were well directed.   Kitty Cecil Wright (Nora) hardly left the stage and I thought that her performance was outstanding throughout. 

The set was kept simple but effective, black cloths and white doors, with period furniture decorating the stage, but I did wonder if the half decorated Christmas tree should have been replaced by a finished article during the scene change in act one

I thought that all the costumes looked well and suited the period. During the interval a gentleman sat next to me said he felt that the men should all have had facial hair, beards or sideboards, and after a short discussion I had a tendency to agree with him, but that is just merely an observation.

My wife also thought the play was excellent, she felt it was emotional and very moving and was close to tears at the end.

Very well done to all concerned 

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