what: ibsen is dead by calamity west
where: the athanaeum in lincoln park
accompaniment: dustin & emily!
drinkability: always love the bar at the athaneum! prosecco for me, beer for dustin, wine for emily.
show length: 90 minutes, no intermission
out of four: two/four
A DOLLS HOUSE was published by henrik ibsen in 1879, a whopping 135 years ago- and yet this is the second play this year that has played some sort of tribute to the work. not that it isn't deserved of being remembered and kept alive almost 150 years later, ibsen's play challenged the idea of a woman as a man's property and her role as dictated by society and caused incredible controversy upon its release. we saw an antique-filtered video of manx as nora talking to her torvald in the chicago mammals' ASSKICKING AMAZONS, and then on friday night i saw the preview of IBSEN IS DEAD - a part of the dolls house project with interrobang.
IBSEN IS DEAD doesn't follow the same story line as A DOLLS HOUSE, but we meet familiar characters nora (jenifer henry starewich) and torvald (matthew david gellin), while encountering two new faces - doctor (adam soule - who we last saw in FROM WHITE PLAINS) and christine (stella martin). west's version of the tale takes place in 1989 - as the belin wall is coming to an end. its a pulse that runs throughout the show- actors often referring to an off-stage tv and the newscast of the historic event is our soundtrack underneath a healthy chunk of the action.
as the wall crumbles as does nora's manicured homelife- as a visit from an old acquaintance interrupts the daily life of keeping the home and shopping for wares from the amex card she lifts from her husband torvald. while christine plants herself inside of nora's home, a silent protest for a large chunk of money, nora's affair with a neighbor (soule) is revealed, making waves in what is very obviously routine.
the combination of west's writing and starewich's wide-eyed interpretation of nora leave one cringing at a woman who is at the same time absolutely aloof and playing a game of keeping her players in line. her connection to christine is frustratingly left open- two women who don't appear old enough to have that much of a distant past attempt to constantly keep an air of tell us more about your past together without the audience really investing too much care in the end. christine served mostly as a comic-relief, a slouching, champagne-chugging, foul-mouthed light into the tidy space in which our play resides.
the set design and coinciding direction left the audience waiting as cast members (especially nora) exited the main stage into other rooms. while potentially intended to create awkward tension, it felt more like waiting for the other person to make it back on stage as they marathoned from one room to another. this feeling could translate entirely throughout- the feeling of waiting for an actor to return, waiting for an actor to return a quip, waiting for someone to come home and drop a bomb. while i enjoyed the ebb and flow of scenes between nora, christine and the doctor most of all, i found that the waiting didn't result in the most satisfying of results.
cheers to interrobang and west for their interpretation on a classic play that was so important to our time. i saw a preview so you have many more chances to catch IBSEN IS DEAD as it runs thru june 8th. tickets range from $18-$20, with discounts over at goldstar.
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upcoming may shows:
thursday may 15th, 8pm: strawdog theatre's charles ives take me home
saturday may 17th, 8pm: aston rep's wit
TBD
join me, will you?