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Young Nora
"A Doll's House': the Geffers adaptation
Steve Cohen
An adolescent girl named Nora checks her Facebook page on her desktop computer, then reaches into her trunk and pulls out some of her favorite dolls. After a few minutes of this modern teenager fantasizing and play-acting with the dolls, we find ourselves caught up in a retelling Henrik Ibsen's play about Nora's marriage.
This Doll's House is not a rewrite or a reinterpretation of the classic play. Rather, it's a one-hour introduction to the character who will grow up into the prototypical mother of women's liberation. Brenna Geffers took excerpts from Ibsen's play, adapted them to this scenario and directed with directness and simplicity.
Ibsen, of course, is considered one of the founders of modernism in theater; his portrayal of strong women was deemed shocking in the 1870s. Ibsen himself, years later, disclaimed what he called "the honor of having consciously worked for the women's rights movement"; his task, he insisted, was merely "the description of humanity."
This Doll's House marked the start of an EgoPo season devoted to Ibsen. It will include his rarelr performed The Lady From the Sea and a re-interpretation of his famous Peer Gynt. This latter play, as adapted by playwright Romulus Linney and retitled Gint, will transport Ibsen's characters to Appalachia.
One of this production's joys was witnessing the portrayal of Nora by the 14-year-old Mackenzie Maula, who occupies the stage by herself (the voices of the male dolls are those of the unseen Ross Beschler and Robert T. DaPonte). She's natural and poised, rather than appearing to be precocious. The only previous credit I've seen for her is as Tevye's second-to-youngest daughter Sphrintze in the Walnut Street Theatre's Fiddler on the Roof. She appears to be on the threshold of a significant acting career.
This Doll's House is not a rewrite or a reinterpretation of the classic play. Rather, it's a one-hour introduction to the character who will grow up into the prototypical mother of women's liberation. Brenna Geffers took excerpts from Ibsen's play, adapted them to this scenario and directed with directness and simplicity.
Ibsen, of course, is considered one of the founders of modernism in theater; his portrayal of strong women was deemed shocking in the 1870s. Ibsen himself, years later, disclaimed what he called "the honor of having consciously worked for the women's rights movement"; his task, he insisted, was merely "the description of humanity."
This Doll's House marked the start of an EgoPo season devoted to Ibsen. It will include his rarelr performed The Lady From the Sea and a re-interpretation of his famous Peer Gynt. This latter play, as adapted by playwright Romulus Linney and retitled Gint, will transport Ibsen's characters to Appalachia.
One of this production's joys was witnessing the portrayal of Nora by the 14-year-old Mackenzie Maula, who occupies the stage by herself (the voices of the male dolls are those of the unseen Ross Beschler and Robert T. DaPonte). She's natural and poised, rather than appearing to be precocious. The only previous credit I've seen for her is as Tevye's second-to-youngest daughter Sphrintze in the Walnut Street Theatre's Fiddler on the Roof. She appears to be on the threshold of a significant acting career.
What, When, Where
A Doll’s House. Adapted by Brenna Geffers, from the play by Henrik Ibsen; Geffers. An EgoPo Classic Theater production for FringeArts Festival through September 22, 2013, at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (267) 273-1414 or egopo.org or fringearts.ticketleap.com.
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