A DOLL’S HOUSE. Written by Henrik Ibsen. Adapted and directed by Christiaan Olwagen, with Jennifer Steyn, Martin le Maitre, Dawid Minnaar, Anthea Thompson and Rob van Vuuren. Set design Rocco Pool. Costume design Birrie le Roux, Sound design Charl-Johan Lingenfelder. Lighting design Wolf Britz. Choreography Ina Wich-terich. At The Baxter Theatre until Thursday. TRACEY SAUNDERS reviews
IN HER book Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype Clarissa Pinkola Estes exhorts women to “Go out in the woods, go out. If you don’t go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.”
The book was published in 1992 after the audio recording had achieved cult status following its release in 1989 and remained on the New York Times’ bestseller list for 145 weeks. Her feminist exploration of women who dare received a much warmer reception that Henrik Ibsen’s, Et dukkehjem, a Norwegian play which premièred in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 21, 1879. One hundred and thirty seven years later Ibsen’s original notion of a female character who breaks with convention and leaves hearth and home is still counter to the prevailing narrative and Olwagen’s adaptation has placed the story firmly in contemporary culture.
Steyn is Nora, the seemingly pampered wife of Torvald Helmer. Basking in the glow of his recent promotion it appears that their life is perfect. Scratch a little under the surface though and all is not well in this perfect suburban paradise. A financial deal entered into by Nora to ostensibly save her husband becomes a bone of contention and ultimately pits Norvald against her.
As the play unfolds to reveal Nora’s deception and Torvald’s shallowness all manner of human dramas are revealed. Previous productions of The Doll’s House have raised ire primarily because of Nora’s unthinkable decision to leave not only her home and husband but also her children.
A 1929 performance staged in South Africa used the alternative ending which had previously been staged in Vienna in 1881 and later again in Sweden in 1956. The alternative, more palatable ending has Nora ending the play with these words, “Oh, this is a sin against myself, but I cannot leave them.” In this adaptation, Olwagen has aged the children and they are no longer of an age where abandonment would cause such distress.
Her choice becomes less about who and what she leaves and who she chooses to run to. A subtle yet profound difference. She hasn’t “stayed for the children”, but it is clear in that moment when she decides to leave that she isn’t leaving them either.
Any superlative I use to describe Steyn’s performance would be trite and none would suffice to capture the sheer audacity of her portrayal of this role. She is coquettish and as innocent as a young bride dressed in a shade of pink so pale it appears translucent at times. Such is her clarity that one can almost read her mind and when she dances her inner demons come out to play with a vengeance. Her almost wild, yet suppressed nature is perfectly counter balanced by her friend Kristine played by Anthea Thompson.
Her sensible shoes and penchant for knitting provide the rational image of the “good woman”. Unsurprisingly a chink or two is shown in her navy blue utilitarian attire when she encounters her erstwhile lover and Nora’s nemesis, the lawyer Nils Krogstad. Van Vuuren is delightful in this role and reveals an aspect of his acting capability which I wish we were exposed to more often. Dawid Minnaar’s appearances on stage are far too brief, but are conducted with a solemnity that lingers with an ironical resonance to Niki and the Dove’s ironical DJ Ease my mind.
Le Maitre’s Norvald is no brutish oaf. He is not a husband that one would instinctively leave, but as Nora rejects his desperate offers of assistance with the dismissive “I can’t take kindness from strangers any more” their estrangement is made brutally final. Unlike that other iconic woman Blanche, “depending on the kindness of strangers” is not an option for Nora. Le Maitre is an exceptional actor and one is never sure if you pity him or despise him as he plays and is played by his wife.
He is perfectly cast and is completely at home in Rocco Pool’s blond wood set design, a sleek canvas reminiscent of the bentwood features of Norwegian designer, Hans Brattrud. He never encounters the neon strip lights which seem to be activated by Nora’s thoughts that pulsate rhythmically as she dances furiously around the set. Her manic choreographed flights of fantasy are in stark contrast to her outwardly calm exterior. Lingenfelder’s musical design is a vital ingredient of the production. From the opening bars of Compadre’s Got no Dough hinting at the financial instability through to Fallulah’s haunting version of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game, the music is another character in the piece, weaving a narrative that intensifies each and every emotion.
This production is a continuation of The Baxter’s sterling initiative showcasing work that would usually only have a life at one of the many arts festivals in the country. It has already paid immense dividends with both Samsa-Masjien(directed by Jaco Bouwer) and Die Seemeeu(directed by Olwagen) winning numerous awards at the 51st Fleur Du Cap Theatre Awards. With the cost of travelling to festivals becoming increasingly prohibitive platforms, such as these are essential. Those who watched The Doll’s House at the National Arts Festival, where it premièred in 2015 and at Woordfees, have wasted no time in booking tickets to watch this again.
If you watch only one production this year, let it be this one. Olwagen has once again re-imagined a true classic with a profound sense of contemporary issues: economic instability, competing narratives of feminism and an interrogation of where that beast called love really resides and what price we pay to feed it.
Steyn’s exit from the stage to the haunting sounds of Aurora’s Running with the wolves has got to be the definitive theatrical exit and will enter the lexicon of iconic local stage moments. She may leave the stage but she won’t leave your mind. She dares to begin. Will you?
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