THEATRE REVIEWS

So what do you expect from Ibsen? A moral story, based on fact, exquisitely acted against an early nineteenth century set, placed on the stage by a decerning director. This new version of A Doll's House by Christopher Hampton relies on the basic story which travels through time to the ultimate conclusion of a woman demanding her rights at the expense of her family. Designer Peter McKintosh gives us a grey background which sets the tone of the evening.

Director Matthew Lloyd has given us a cast which is ill at ease with the play, which has the words coming out at a pace that does not allow Tanya Moodie, who plays Nora Helmer, time to get the words out properly. Her husband Torvald Helmer, played by John Lightbody, has a delivery that is not Norwegian in character, thereby changing the emphasis of the play. Flowers in the wrong vases are what casting director Kay Magson has displayed. The wife is treated as an accessory, not expected to think and when she does it opens the way to her enlightenment and sacrifice. The husband, newly promoted in the bank, believes he is in command and his wife is subservient to him. Ibsen is about to show us that this is not so. A disgruntled bank employee Krogstad, played by Michael Matus, who has arranged a loan for the wife whilst the husband was ill, arrives to stir the apparent calm. Add the wife's long lost friend Mrs Linde, played with feeling by Sarah Tansey, Doctor Rank, played by Paul Goodwin, with suppressed feelings for the wife, and the catalyst is all there.

The audience were quiet, but then the action would cause a murmur of laughter from the younger members, showing the difference in attitude of the generations. You may find the reworked play disappointing; you will have to judge. © BA

“A Doll's House” is in Leeds on the 18th February to the 19th March, 2005. Council car parking charge £1 from 5.30pm.