I found A Doll’s House Part II to be amusing, yet simultaneously illuminating. It touched on issues relating to the rise of feminism in the early twentieth century, while still displaying a sense humor. One example of this was in the beginning when Anne Marie, the Helmer family’s house servant, inquired how it was that Nora, the play’s protagonist, found success. She began listing professions that were stereotypical, like fashion designer, and was surprised to find out that Nora was in fact a writer. After Nora delivers her reasons for returning to the Helmer household, the reason being she needed a formal divorce from her soon to be ex-husband Torvald, the audience begins to sympathize with Nora. Nora prefers to fly solo, and in some instances, that is totally acceptable. However, in my opinion, in her case, it wasn’t. Throughout the play, I developed feelings of animosity towards Nora. The major reason for this was her treatment towards her daughter, Emmy. My rationale is that if you are unhappy with your marriage, and have tried multiple times to sort it out, you have the right to leave, but you do not, under any circumstances, have the right to abandon your children. You brought your children in this world to love and care for them, to put their needs above yours. Nora, selfishly, abandoned her children, and upon encountering Emmy for the first time since she was born, Nora not only did she not want to see her, she made no attempt to apologize for abandoning her. The only reason Nora had agreed to speak with Emmy in the first place was again for her own selfish needs: to get Emmy to convince Torvald into divorcing her. Although I fully despised Nora, I realized that the actress indeed did an exceptional job in portraying her, for I was fuming with rage whenever she spoke thereafter.
In addition to the remarkable acting from all the characters, I quite liked the stage direction of the play. The neon green signs highlighting each character’s name illuminated the dark stage. I thought it was an interesting prop the directors used to segue each scene into the next and to introduce each character’s role in the overall plot. The transition, paired with the lack of a musical score/sound effects, and the occasionally thrown around swear words, made the whole play feel unconventional. Yet somehow, it worked.
