A DOLL'S HOUSE. To 9 January.
London
A DOLL'S HOUSE
by Henrik Ibsen translated by Michael Meyer
Greenwich Playhouse To 9 January 2005
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 4pm no performance 25-26,31 Dec 1,2 Jan
Runs 2hr 5min One interval
TICKETS: 020 8858 9256
boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 December
Galleon's never a company to avoid a major classic's challenge; once again they come out on top.Galleon Theatre Company's Ibsen revival at their tiny Greenwich home has a clarity making it considerably more satisfying than several productions from better-resourced theatres.
Close-up detail counts, from Alice Grace's Nora playfully smoothing her husband's annoyance early on. Soft-voiced and smiling, she happily satisfies his pride, still living through him. It's a long, quick Christmas journey to the Nora who stares horrified as her husband fails her, becoming someone she can't bear to look in the face her eyes averting suddenly as he turns to her.
The test of any Doll's House is how convincingly this transition's made. Grace makes it utterly believable. And by casting the servant Helen near Nora's age, Bruce Jamieson's production emphasises how all the women here have suffered from men.
As her impoverished school-friend, Kate Izon indicates how Nora's situation will change. Mrs Linde's submissiveness, born of suppressed anxiety, her quick flicker of hope when a job's in prospect, the embarrassment when Nora solicits a place for her, all speak of a world Nora's yet to find. Yet it shows Kristina Linde's developed a capacity to survive that offers hope for Nora's future. She and Alex Hutchinson's Krogstad might be heading for the kind of marriage Nora's about to discover she's never had.
Simon Russell-Bird's Torvald shouts out when Nora calls him petty, signalling the self-centred insecurity to emerge later. It detracts from the sympathy the character needs to maximise Nora's plight being marooned for life with a selfish fool is bad; but a well-intentioned husband who proves a man of straw is far worse.
Martin Beere's Rank, though making little of his handling Nora's silk stocking (while grasping her knee is too explicit an expression of desire), indicates how the doctor's illiberal social views come from the burden of suppression his father's libertine lifestyle's imposed on him - a foretaste of Ghosts to come.
Alex Marker's set hints at the dark waters these characters tread, and those potentially awaiting Nora, in the moonlit river scenes hanging on the Helmer's walls and enlarged on the theatre wall behind, moodily reflecting this production's measure of the play.
Nora: Alice Grace
Helen: Stephanie Nielson
Torvald: Stephen Russell-Bird
Mrs Linde: Kate Izon
Dr Rank: Martin Beere
Krogstad: Alex Hutchinson
Director: Bruce Jamieson
Designer: Alex Marker
Lighting: Robert Gooch
Costume: Richard Cooke
2004-12-26 19:06:43