1. Henrik Ibsen
A Doll’s House

2. Henrik Ibsen
Ibsen at his desk
Credited as the originator of the "Drama of Ideas," Henrik Ibsen is generally considered the father of modern drama.

3. A Doll’s House, Scene from a 1922 production
Ibsen's experience of voluntary exile to Europe provided his work with an important theme: toward the end of his life he said that he felt homeless, even in his native country.

4. Style of A Doll’s House
A Doll's House is a play in three acts. The play is written in a realistic style. The dramatic machinery is completely concealed, as Ibsen lets life speak for itself to provide rich psychological identities for his characters.
Screen version of A Doll’s House in 1973

5. Anthony Hopkins and Claire Bloom in one of the 1973 screen versions of "A Doll's House.''
A Doll's House is widely considered a feminist play given Nora's journey from a somewhat oppressive marriage to her eventual independence.

6. Individual V.S Society
Throughout this play and others Ibsen demonstrates the ways in which social dictates often conflict with, or restrict, individual desires.
Scene of A Doll’s House (2002)

7. Nora directed by Thomas Ostermeier
Nora directed by Thomas Ostermeier. This politically-charged and violent version A Doll’s House will be presented at 10/27 in National Theater.
A Doll's House explores the fate of an individual who finds himself/herself at odds with society and in doing so exposes the very apparent tension between personal liberty and social determinism.

8. Something about Thomas Ostermeier
Thomas Ostermeier was once awarded the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2002, and was appointed as the Associate Artistic Director in the 2004 Festival d’Avignon to direct Buchner’s “Woyzeck”.

9. Born in West Germany in 1968, Thomas Ostermeier is art director of the Schaubuehne. After graduation he was given responsibility for the small theater space “Baracke” of the Deutschen Theater, where he presented contemporary works such as Brecht.
Thomas Ostermeier

10. Ostermeier became well-known at 28 through his work at the Baracke, a small experimental theatre belonging to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and he has been the artistic director at the Schaubuhne since the age of 31.
Nora. Anne Tismer, Jörg Hartmann.

11. Something about Ostermeier’s Nora
In 125 years of audiences, undoubtedly many women have wanted to shoot Torvald Helmer, but most directors, male or female, would hesitate to louse up a great play by turning the famous door-slam into a gunshot.
Nora. Anne Tismer, Jörg Hartmann

12. Nora Jörg Hartmann, Anne Tismer
Ostermeier has managed, by giving Torvald a gun for Nora to borrow, to louse up not only a great play but what was in many ways a great production.

13. Nora Kay Bartholomäus Schulze, Jenny Schily
Ostermeier updated the play to a contemporary, high-tech elite setting, creating lively and detailed performances in a luxury-apartment set whose architectural style might be described as post-Bauhaus nightmare.

14. The Helmers' maid was an African au pair; Dr
The Helmers' maid was an African au pair; Dr. Rank, far younger than usually played, was bisexual and HIV-positive; Nora's plea to rehire Krogstad interrupted Torvald at his laptop; the children's arrival brought with it a tidal wave of heavy-metal rock.
Nora. Anne Tismer

15. Related Sources and Links
Literature Online—Criticism and References
Sarah Shute, ed. “Henrik Ibsen ( ): A Doll's House”. KnowledgeNotes? Student Guides. Cambridge: Proquest Information and Learning Company, 2002.
A Doll’s House Summery and Essays
Clips of Ostermeier’s Nora
Go Brooklyn– introducing Thomas Ostermeier and his play Nora
Village Voices> Theater> Nora (A Doll’s House) by Michael Feingold
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