Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
A Doll’s House Part 2
By Lucas Hnath
Directed by Paul Gittins
Design John Parker
Costumes Elizabeth Whiting
Lighting Jane Hakaraia
Production/SM Teresa Sokolich
With Laura Hill, Stephen Butterworth, Danyelle Mealings, Maya Dalziel
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
14 Nov to 1 Dec 2024
Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
A Doll’s House, Part 2 runs about 90 minutes with no interval and is a bit like a well-cooked, multi-course series of tastes – or tapas if you will. It is a meal that sizzles and left me feeling delightfully sated.
Each taste is marvelously well-prepared and each is impeccably presented. Chef Hnath’s initial offerings covered ground prepared by others although he put an individual tweak to each and ensured they were delightfully delivered in ways that addressed time-proven issues of women’s independence, choice and self-fulfillment.
His chief protagonist Nora Helmer arrives through the same door through which Ibsen had exited her 15 years previously. But now she bears the scars, world-weariness and hard-won wisdom of a woman who has emphatically found and secured her place in the world as a clearly successful writer. She is confronted by the worldly-wise Ann-Marie , Nanny to her abandoned children, an older woman who has looked, listened and learned much. Ann-Marie is able to match Nora when it comes to verbal sparring and their discussion, debate, and general discourse delves into independence, freedom, patriarchies and the expectations of society. And what that means. But up to this point Hnath’s menu largely provides tastes with which we are familiar – albeit extremely well done with lashings of aspiration and confidence and some magical energy exchange between the two women.
Humour is never far away, arguments are sophisticated and standpoints and circumstances are outlined one after the other.
However well-presented these standpoints are and just as I was thinking I had heard most of their supporting arguments previously and had mistakenly arrived at a law moot, Hnath introduces Nora’s perhaps-former husband and not quite-ex Torvald. His arrival is somewhat unexpected to the two women and now the meal and its courses becomes successively tastier. New garnishes are added – subtly at first as incomprehension, resentment and self-doubt became apparent between all three. But liberal sprinklings of emotion that initially bubble to the surface and then burst forth as spicy aromas that grow as they are savoured.
And that is the crux of Hnath’s play. I sat enthralled as each new dish was served raising questions about family, marriage and responsibility. Again, hardly new arguments, but assembled in dramatic combinations.
The dialogue is fast and vibrant – some of it using very modern vernacular. There is confusion and disagreement and miscomprehension that is sharp and pointed.
Director Paul Gittins is the interpreter of Hnath’s dishes and adds depth and nuance to each. Designer John Parker enhances them with a simple set that is little more than a platform containing three or four chairs, a small table and an omni-present door frame that acknowledges where Ibsen left off. Its very simplicity allows Gittins’ cast to better explore and extract light and shade. Elizabeth’ Whiting’s costumes hint at Ibsen’s period, but nor are they of the present. Timeless and script-driven are terms that spring to mind.
Rightly so, Laura Hill is billed as the ‘star’ and makes a compelling Nora as the chemistry between her and others is abundantly clear. Her initial interactions with a remarkably strong Maya Dalziel as Nanny Anne-Marie and then with Torvald reveal the maelstrom that lurks beneath the surface of their worlds.
From being initially nervous and confused Torvald’s emotions soon take over and A Doll’s House 2 really starts to sizzle. His Torvald is achingly sympathetic one moment, a blustering tyrant the next and ultimately a confused soul.
Their calm and rationale daughter Emmy (Danyelle Mealings) attempts to metaphorically and literally patch up the father-she-never-has-known as a voice of balanced reason but her voice is largely ignored, becoming almost that of a rather more dispassionate audience.
In conclusion one can only applaud. This is an actor’s play that provokes its audience to empathise with different perspectives and director Gittins allows his universally strong and highly experienced cast to do so.
It is rather like that tapas meal where each course sizzles making A Doll’s House Part 2 a delight and, for me, one of the standouts of Auckland theatre in 2024.
As advised in all the pre-promotional material, familiarity with Ibsen’s 1879 original is not essential, but there are direct and indirect references and clues to it are strewn liberally throughout Hnath’s 21st century sequel. One might think of them as yet another layer of satisfaction – or a hidden dessert if you prefer.
New Zealand Arts Review 