A Doll’s House

by Henrik Ibsen

English Language version by Simon Stephens

Directed by Chris Lloyd

christinemlloyd@me.com

Assistant Director Joe Seeney

Performance Dates: October 22nd – 26th

AUDITION DATES

Saturday 1st June (10:30 – 13:00)

Sunday 2nd June (13:00 – 15:30)

Tuesday 4th June (18:45-21:00)

Thursday 6th June (18:45 – 21:00)

Saturday 9th June (10:30 – 13:00)

CALL BACKS

Tuesday 11th June (18:45 – 21:30)

Thursday 13th June (18:45 – 21:30)

Auditions will take the form of group readings and workshops. Short extracts from the play will be sent to you when your audition date is confirmed. Please apply for an audition slot on the attached form to –  christinemlloyd@me.com

Rehearsals will begin on the 27th of August and will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 18.45 and 21.30 and from the 14th of September on either Saturday mornings – 10.30 – 13.00, or Sunday afternoons – 13.00 – 15.30 (full schedule to be available   during auditions).

While of course we recognise that, as volunteers, we all have many other commitments if you are cast you will, where possible, be expected to commit to attending rehearsals when you are called.

You will be required to attend during the period leading to the performances. The ‘get in’ will begin from October the 12th and the schedule will require  intensive attendance from cast and crew.

Dress Rehearsals and performances will take place from October the 20th – 26th

THE PLAY

The play, hugely controversial when first published and performed in Copenhagen in 1879, is about the unravelling of a family. Nora and Torvald Helmer believe they are happily married and on the brink of a blissful new phase of life: Torvald has been promoted to bank manager and their money worries are over. But Nora has a secret debt, incurred with good intentions and a forged signature, and with her husband’s new power comes the threat of blackmail. Over three acts the illusion of bourgeois contentment unravels, and the play culminates in a spectacular scene between the couple as Nora’s secret is exposed and Torvald first blames, then forgives her – and is finally abandoned as Nora recognises the truth of her situation. She accuses her husband, and her father before him, of having treated her as a doll, and declares herself unfit to be a wife or mother until she has learned to be herself. Ibsen’s final stage direction, of the door closing behind her, is one of the most famous ever written.

This production of the play will be set in the 1950’s and will seek to highlight the relevance of the play, and the relationships within it, to recent and current contexts.

CHARACTERS

NORA HELMER (Playing age Late 20s early 30s.)

She is pretty and appears vain spoilt frivolous and extravagant. Her father and now her husband treat her as immature, unintelligent and naïve and she plays the part and behaves as if she is. She is however none of those as the plot reveals.

TORVALD HELMER (Playing age 30s/40s.)

Regards himself as superior intellectually and socially, to Nora and others. Pompous and controlling with Nora but also totally obsessed by her. Easily roused to anger. Completely unaware of Nora’s real capabilities or thoughts.

DOCTOR RANK (Playing age 30’s/40s.)

Friend of Torvald and, perhaps even more so, of Nora.

Clearly very attracted to and in love with Nora. Cynical and wry. Terminally ill.

CHRISTINE LINDE Playing age 30s/40s (looks older than Nora but is around the same age)

Playing age 30s/40s (looks older than Nora but is around the same age). An old friend of Nora from their childhood. Has had a hard life and married in order to provide for her mother and brothers. Now widowed and left with no money she needs to work to survive. She is alarmed by Nora’s situation and her behaviour and also by what she perceives as her dishonest relationship with Torvald

NILS KROGSTAD (Playing age 30s/40s.)

 A widowed, low level bank employee with some fraudulent scandal in his past. He has arranged a secret loan for Nora and is now blackmailing her. Not entirely a bad man who has himself committed fraud in the past but wants to redeem his reputation for the sake of his children.

Anna (Playing age 50s/60s.)

Was Nora’s nurse and now nanny to the Helmer children. Extremely loyal to Nora. Gave up her own child to raise Nora. Indulges Nora’s whims

Helene (Playing age any.)

House keeper/cleaner. Treated as an inferior by all. Few lines but the character will appear throughout as an observer to the various relationships expressing her opinion through her actions and reactions.

(Additional characters – Unseen on stage Nora and Torvald’s young children: Ivar, Jon and Emmy Helmer – to be pre-recorded and appear as voices off).

AUDITION FORM