Henrik Ibsen’s gripping and controversial play, A Doll’s House, returns to Vancouver after a decade. The Slamming Door Collective, a group of passionate and driven actors, are all lovers of good theatre have taken on the daunting task of bringing Ibsen’s masterpiece to the stage.
“It all comes from a place of good will and I’m hoping that the audience will pick up on the fact that we do love it,” said Ashley O’Connell, cast member and 2006 graduate of UBC.
The Slamming Door Collective consists of members of the theatre community who collectively volunteer to bring plays to life such as the production of A Doll’s House simply because they all have the same goal in mind — to create good theatre.
“The thing that does make it more genuine is that we just chose this play … So in that sense, we’re all putting maximum love into it. There’s no cynicism in it,” said O'Connell.
As A Doll’s House returns to the stage, the collective maintains the piece’s relevant social themes while capturing the audience’s attention. They also keep the play lively and ultimately relatable with sympathetic characters. Nora remains one of the most pertinent heroines of modern theatre who drives forward the play’s theme of the challenge of individual self-discovery.
“[It is] a simple human story without thinking about political themes. It is a good story ... and it’s a very gripping one,” said O’Connell. “I hope the audience will respond on a visceral level so we have to make the characters as realistic and empathic as possible.”
Despite being written in the late 1800s, A Doll’s House carries forward relevant feminist themes in our modern-day society.
“I’m hoping that when women see the play in particular that they will completely understand Nora. There will be no doubt that Nora isn’t just a spoiled brat or an idiot or that she’s selfish. They’ll, I hope, completely empathize with her," said O'Connell.
A resurrection of classic theatre is long overdue in Vancouver with few venues playing the works of the masters such as Ibsen, Brecht and Chekhov. The Slamming Door Collective looks to pay homage to the classics.
“What primarily motivated us was the desire to do good theatre … and there really is no venue in Vancouver that does [classic] plays … so we got to fill that niche.”
A Doll’s House plays the Jericho Arts Centre from October 8 to October 24.
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