When last we saw Nora Helmering, she was walking out the door, leaving behind her husband Torvald and their three children. She had come to believe her whole life was, if not a lie, than an untruth. That was the close of A Doll’s House, Ibsen’s then(1879)-shocking play.
There are certain children who, after hearing a story from a book or storyteller, demand to know What happened then? Lucas Hnath might have been one of those curious young ones, because he’s written A Doll’s House, Part 2, currently at The Rep Mainstage. Happily, it’s not necessary to have seen the Ibsen to enjoy this work; there are enough backstory references (without seeming awkward, always a potential clunkiness) to make it comprehensible to anyone.
Director Timothy Near gives us a play that is both period and modern. It balances both sides beautifully. From the ghost-ish set by Scott C. Neale to the contemporary language of Hnath’s characters, we’re walking that tightrope without getting dizzy. Nora (Carolyn Kozlowski) has returned after 15 years, only notifying the housekeeper Anne Marie (Tina Johnson) who was her nanny when she was a child. After she left their nameless town in Norway where Torvald was a banker, many people thought her dead, so reticent was Torvald about her absence.
She hasn’t told Torvald she was coming, but she needs to speak to him in the morning, she tells the housekeeper. And, no, there’s no reason to tell the one child remaining at home, Emmy, who’s now 20, that she’s returned. “She has her own life,” Nora explains – or rationalizes.
Nora, it seems, has discovered that Torvald never divorced her. Given the Norwegian law of the time, this is about to cause her plenty of big problems. We know that Torvald (Michael James Reed) is apt to burst through the door hours before his usual time, and indeed he does.
The tension between the two is exquisite, erupting from time to time into shouting, but mostly done with fine emotional restraint. Anne Marie, too, is pulled between options, and when Emmy (Andrea Abello), appears for a one-on-one with her long-absent mother, there’s even more disturbance, although here, it’s of a chilly sort.
What has Nora been doing to stay alive these last years? Will Torvald ever soften? Does maternal instinct exist? What exactly is a happy ending? Hnath isn’t quite Ibsen, but there are interesting questions, some answered and more asked.
Besides the lovely set – is the house a ghost since Nora left? – there is very relevant lighting from Ann G. Wrightson. One could spend the entire evening looking for details on Victoria Livingston-Hall’s costumes were one not so wrapped up in the drama itself.
It all works quite splendidly. No intermission, by the way; running time is roughly 90 minutes.
A Doll’s House, Part 2
through November 4
Repertory Theatre St. Louis
Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts
130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves
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