It takes only minutes for this outstanding production of “A Doll’s House” to grab you — and that’s before a word of Ibsen’s 1879 classic about an increasingly desperate housewife is spoken.
For this London import, director Carrie Cracknell placed the home of our heroine, Nora, on a giant turntable. As Ian MacNeil’s set slowly revolves in the opening scene, we discover the various rooms and their inhabitants. Nora (Hattie Morahan) breezes in, loaded with packages. She banters with the maid and stuffs her mouth with chocolates.
But when her husband, Torvald (Dominic Rowan), calls from his den, she looks guilt-stricken and chokes them down, like a kid caught doing something naughty. And, sure enough, that’s how her husband treats her, down to calling her by condescending little pet names.
Nora has bigger issues than sweets, though, and hides a cumbersome secret from her husband — even though it’s something she did for his sake. A suspense worthy of Hitchcock sets in: Will she be found out? How’s Mr. Man going to react?
As a proper wife and mother, Nora must always keep up cheery appearances. But she can’t ever escape scrutiny: Thanks to the moving set, we can see her no matter where she goes.
The evening zips by, Ibsen’s peerless dramatic wheels oiled by a smooth new adaptation by Simon Stephens, whose play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” hits Broadway this fall. The production also boasts superb period costumes by Gabrielle Dalton and a superb ensemble. Rowan, in particular, makes us understand that Torvald doesn’t mean ill — he’s simply the product of his environment.
But it’s Morahan’s extraordinary performance that holds the show together.
Nora is usually portrayed as spoiled, manipulative and neurotic, and her eventual break from Torvald feels like a stretch. Morahan’s Nora naturally inches toward awakening, and her final revolt makes total sense.
“I think I’m a human being before anything else,” she tells her stunned hubby. “I don’t care what other people say. I don’t care what people write in books. I need to think for myself.”
Amen, sister!