A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen – My Directorial Debut

Here comes another post about my theatre group. It really has taken over my life… in a good way of course! We performed ‘A Murder is Announced’ last Saturday 9th, and it went well. It was the first time we’d performed in front of an audience, and the first time we’d done it on the stage with all of our props, so the fact that it went relatively smoothly was a miracle. There were a few hiccups, but I think that was mainly nerves, and people being a bit too hard on themselves.

We have another two performances this Saturday 16th December which I’m hoping will go just as well. You can find all information about the play here. It really is worth a watch if you’re in the local area – it’s in Frimley, by the way.

We’ve already chosen our next play which will be performed in April next year, and somehow I’ve been roped into directing. I’ve never directed anything in my life, so I’m a little scared. This is actually going to be performed in front of a paying audience so it has to be good.

It’s also a bit different to the sort of plays that we normally put on too, so there’s lots of pressure to make it appealing to our audience who are so used to coming to see comedies, not dramas. We’re doing ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Simon Stephens.

‘I think I’m a human being before anything else. I don’t care what other people say. I don’t care what people write in books. I need to think for myself.’

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, the second in a series of realist plays by Ibsen, and immediately provoked controversy with its apparently feminist message and exposure of the hypocrisy of Victorian middle-class marriage.

In Ibsen’s play, Nora Helmer has secretly (and deceptively) borrowed a large sum of money to pay for her husband, Torvald, to recover from illness on a sabbatical in Italy. Torvald’s perception of Nora is of a silly, naive spendthrift, so it is only when the truth begins to emerge, and Torvald appreciates the initiative behind his wife, that unmendable cracks appear in their marriage.

It’ll be the first drama that Brightlight have done since I joined the group almost two years ago, so it’s going to be a massive change for our regular audience, but on the flip side, it may bring a few new faces to our shows.

I absolutely love the themes within this play, and I have so many ideas already for what I want it to look like. I’m excited for the New Year to begin so I can get stuck in! One thing I want is for the set to be furnished like a Victorian (ish) doll’s house, but for the costumes to be from the modern day. I want it to be like this to show the fact that the themes within the play are still relevant now, over one hundred years since it was written. I’m also hoping to have some imagery involving birdcages – whether that’s set design, or actual props, I haven’t figured that out yet.

I believe in equality for everyone, not just women, and I’m very excited to direct a play that challenges inequality in marriage and modern day society. Hopefully my cast and I can pull it off! Now I just need to hold auditions!

Until the next time,
Lauren x

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