NORA (RU)
With The White Theatre’s NORA , we can promise the audience an extraordinary Ibsen experience
Directed by Mikhail Bytsjkov / Det Hvite Teater
This production shows us A Doll’s House through Nora’s eyes. The events unfolding on stage are Nora’s internal experiences, as she tries to free herself from the prison of her marriage: when she experiences Krogstad as a judge and a penal lawyer, she SEES him as one too, wig, gown and all. The stage is transformed into Nora’s private space, a space she can crawl into (a doll’s house!), and becomes her vantage point to the world around her – opening new doors in Ibsen’s text.
Nora is interpreted through deliberately referencing silent movie-era melodrama, with 20s-style makeup, costumes, and scenography, with a plot shifting between strict realism and exaggerated, melodramatic non-realism. One moment, actors are gesticulating in an exaggerated silent-movie manner, sneering at their fellow cast members; the next, genre conventions break down as characters address the audience in monologues. On stage, in Nora’s room, is a grand piano, and in the manner of a silent movie pianist, a musician is on stage throughout, accompanying the narrative.
Nora was nominated for four Golden Mask awards in 2003, winning the Russian Bravo! Award in 2004, in which the public voted for show of the year.
Cast: Nora – Marina Soloptsjenko, Helmer – Alexandr Bargman, Krogstad – Valerij Kuhkaresjin, Mrs Linde – Svetlana Pismitsjenko, Doctor Rank – Georgij Sjtil. Maid: Jelena Kudrjavtseva.
Director: Mikhail Bytsjkov. Scenographer: Emil Kapeljusj. Music: Valerij Pigusov. Choreographer: Sergej Gritsaj.