Review: NORA: A DOLLS HOUSE, Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester

Photo credit: Helen Murray

Almost 150 years after Henrik Ibsen’s original play was written, Nora: A Doll’s House is an adaptation of the classic nineteenth century play that takes the character of Nora through the story of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in three different decades. This adaptation of the Norwegian play by Stef Smith explores how women are affected by social conventions in their lives whilst having the ideals of the women’s rights movement at the very heart of the show. In a cunning move by producers, the beginning of its run at the Royal Exchange Theatre has been cleverly timed to line up with International Women’s Day, which is quite fitting for this play.

The story follows Nora, a housewife and mother, through three different decades: 1918, 1968 and 2018, who tries hard to be perfect in her role in society but is faced with new challenges as secrets unravel and she has to make new decisions.

Three different versions of Nora are portrayed throughout the play; Kirsty Rider, Jodie McNee and Yusra Warsama each play one version in 1918, 1968 and 2018 respectively. All three actors’ performances combined with Stef Smith’s writing and Bryony Shanahan’s direction work together in harmony to allow smooth transitions between each of the decades and make sense of the change in time periods and Nora variations. If not executed properly, the use of three Nora’s could’ve easily made this play adaptation awkward and hard to follow, but this is certainly not the case as the scenes between the three actors flow excellently and is easy for audiences to understand and follow the events as they unfold.

The Royal Exchange Theatre’s stage in the round brings an extra challenge for the performers and director to deal with since they must perform to every angle and not just to an audience on one side like in more traditional theatre setting. They all make this work with ease and each member of the cast engages the audience the whole time they are onstage, no matter which direction they face at any given time.

Amanda Stoodley’s set design is simple yet very effective with chairs and other furniture distributed around the edge of the stage and the use of a revolving stage allows each audience member to get more than one perspective of the performance space. One ingenious part of Stoodley’s set is the use of red yarn attached to the edges of the stage floor which stretch up above the stage to create the illusion of a cage to support the metaphor of Nora, Thomas’s “little songbird”, being trapped in a cage that she wants to break free from.

Exploring Ibsen’s story in various moments in time, Nora: A Doll’s House is a wonderfully powerful piece of theatre that successfully shows us how different yet similar women’s lives and expectations of society across the century have been. This play empowers and celebrates women and their strength, yet also demonstrates how society still has room to advance in its expectations of a woman’s “role” is.

Don’t miss the chance to see this beautiful play.

***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway

Nora: A Doll’s House plays at the Royal Exchange Theatre until 2 April, with tickets available here.