High concept play with accent on little details

Published on Monday 27 August 2007 12:02

Mabou Mines Dollhouse ****

King's Theatre

HIGH concepts run right through this American adaptation of Ibsen's great play. Yet, for all that it appears to be a succession of gimmicks, it remains remarkably true to the original.

Director Lee Breuer has brought a distorting glass to A Doll's House that exaggerates almost every single aspect of it. And in so doing, while he adds a strong element of humour to the play, he also makes perfect sense of what Ibsen was trying to say.

The original play, written in 1879 in Norway, is the story of a woman who has grown beyond the society in which she lives. Everything about her life is dictated to her by men - she even has to get a man's written permission to take out a loan. She is more than ready to be responsible for herself.

Breuer's big idea is first to cast men who are smaller than four-foot high in all the male roles, with very tall women in all the female roles, and then to create a set that is exactly the right size for the men.

This is more than a literal reminder that Nora Helmer has outgrown her life with her husband, Torvald. It is suggests that the men are the women's playthings and accentuates Ibsen's lines to the point that it seem ludicrous that Nora could even think of staying with Torvald.

Add a live piano accompaniment, a big theatrical staging and over-exaggerated accents, and you get a play that is almost pure melodrama.

The result is probably not for purists, and the first half does seem a good ten minutes too long. But as a piece of theatre and a radical introduction to a play that can all too often be as dry and dusty as Torvald's attitudes, it is a must see production.

• Run ends today