A Doll House, Program Notes

To live is - to war with trolls
In the holds of the heart and mind;
To write is - to hold
Judgment Day over the self.
--Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen completed Et Dukkehjem (A Doll House) in the summer of 1879 in Amalfi, Italy. It was published in Copenhagen in December and the play's initial printing of 8,000 copies quickly sold out. Two weeks later it created a sensation when presented at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. It was discussed everywhere in Scandinavia, both in public meetings and at private dinners—until hostesses began outlawing it as a topic for conversation. It is now perhaps Ibsen’s most famous play.

In the subsequent first German production, the lead actress refused to play Nora unless Ibsen changed the final scene. Under pressure from the Berlin management he eventually did, calling the alternative ending he devised "a barbaric outrage". In it Nora gives her husband another chance after he forces her to look at her sleeping children. The play was at first banned in Britain, but had its American premiere in a little noticed production called The Child Wife in Louisville, Kentucky in 1883.

"With pleasure I will torpedo the ark." - Ibsen

A Doll House established a new genre of modern drama; prior contemporary plays were usually historical romances or contrived comedies. Ibsen has been called the "father of modern drama" because he elevated the theatre of his time from mere entertainment to a forum for exposing social problems, especially the position of women in society. Ibsen sent Nora Helmer out into the world with a demand that women too must have the freedom to develop as adult, independent, responsible people. A Doll House in turn sent the playwright to the head of the European avant-garde.
"I must decline the honor of being said to have worked for the Women's Rights movement. I am not even very sure what Women's Rights are. To me it has been a question of human rights." – Ibsen

Ibsen’s model for Nora was a Norwegian girl, Laura Petersen, who had audaciously dared to write a sequel to his play Brand. Nevertheless Ibsen became fond of her and called her his 'skylark.' In 1872, she married a Danish schoolteacher, Victor Kieler, who shortly afterwards was diagnosed with tuberculosis. A warmer climate was prescribed, but the Kielers were poor. To finance a stay in Italy, Laura arranged a loan without her husband's knowledge. Once there Victor made a good recovery. Two years later, however, when repayment of the secret loan was demanded, Laura desperately attempted to pay it off by forging a check. When she was found out, her husband treated her like a criminal. He claimed she was an unfit mother, and demanded their children be removed from her care. She suffered a nervous collapse, and he had her committed to an asylum. Discharged a month later, Laura persuaded Victor to take her back for the sake of their children. In 1878, after hearing of Laura's confinement, Ibsen started work on A Doll House. In his notes he wrote the following: “A woman cannot be herself in modern society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess female conduct from a male standpoint.”

"... And what does it mean, then to be a poet? …To see in such a way that whatever is seen is perceived by the audience just as the poet saw it. Only what has been lived through can be seen and accepted in that way. The secret of modern literature lies precisely in “lived through” experiences. Everything I have written these last ten years, I have lived through spiritually.” – Ibsen

Ibsen died 101 years ago on May 23, 1906, after a series of strokes. According to his doctor's journal, his last utterance was "Tvertimod"!—"On the contrary"!
This adaptation was first prepared 15 years ago from William Archer’s excellent 1911 English translation.

“I revel in adverse criticism…my enemies have been a great help to me—their attacks have been so vicious that people come flocking to see what all the shouting was about.”
–Ibsen