Doll Parts
Avoiding 'A Doll's House' in either High School or College English Lit class is like avoiding the coming of morning. Inevitably, students are force-fed this Ibsen classic along with 'The Crucible' and 'Oedipus' and a smattering of Shakespeare. After three or four readings (accompanied by timeworn analyses and the inevitable film and TV versions of each), it's easy to become jaded about these warhorses until a fresh adaptation brings them to life. Apparently, Gamm's Artistic Director Tony Estrella feels the same; he has retooled Ibsen's script for late 1950's America, pulling it out of 19th century Norway. According to George Bernard Shaw, 'A Doll's House' is set in "every suburb in Europe", so the universality of the themes would seem to transcend time and place.
Estrella and Director Fred Sullivan, Jr. are betting that post-war America would have been outraged at the idea of Mrs. Cleaver standing up for her individuality and challenging the status quo. What if Ward turns out to be a heel while Wally and the Beav are left standing by, helpless, as Mom shuts the door on clean aprons and laugh tracks? More Teeth returns to The Gamm to see if 'A Doll's House' stands up to this treatment and can force us to reconsider what we think we already know about this play.
January 22, 2011
Nice Gam(m)s!
Decades ago, when women could not afford stockings (or could not easily get a hold of them) a novel workaround was to draw a line up the back of the leg to simulate the effect. This technique had the obvious drawback of being difficult to achieve unless one had a willing partner with a steady hand. One crooked section on the upper calf could destroy the entire illusion and invite mockery. In such cases, the only redress was to walk fast and keep moving so the eye could not rest on any one place for too long...assuming anyone was looking, that is.
The image is appropriate when looking at Tony Estrella and Company's latest offering. Director Fred Sullivan Jr. has carefully woven a subtle, yet distinct stylization into this production that sometimes wavers, but never long enough to allow the eye to dwell on it for too long. For every moment of presentational melodrama, there is an equally opposite thread of inner life that connects every one of us to the stories of these characters. What were textbook aphorisms in school are now real life experiences played out in front of us. Whether or not the moral and ethical choices of these characters gives us pause (and many of them certainly do), there is no denying the effect of a cataclysmic breakdown of family, friendship and honor that lies within.
The late Eisenhower era is well represented by Patrick Lynch's scenic design. The net effect (aided by Katryne Hecht's set dressing) is a wave of period-modern beige that threatens to swallow the audience and engulf us into the skewed world of the Helmers. Jeanine Kane's Nora bursts forth with the only bold colors on the stage, save for the color wheel and cherry-red Christmas ornaments that represent the Helmers' tacky affluence. Costume designer Marilyn Salvatore drapes Nora in vibrant reds and greens
while those around her fade into the woodwork in shades of drab. Nora and the frugal, controlling Torvald (a tightly wound, complex performance by Steve Kidd) differ in color scheme as much as the furniture, the out-of-place rocking chair a vaguely green relic that serves as what must have been Nora's only contribution to the décor. That Nora yearns to change the furniture is one of many apt metaphors for her existence.
Nora's character arc, of course, is the main focus of the plot - she being the titular Doll in Torvald's house. Kane's flightiness at the top of the show is one of the moments that threaten to show the seams behind the craft, the flibbertigibbet act coming across as a little too forced. Having seen Kane many times onstage before, however, and knowing how far from flighty Nora will become, we forgive the excess and are rewarded in spades by play's end. Kane triumphs in a role for which she was justifiably cherry-picked by Sullivan to perform.
Rebecca Gibel's Kristine also suffers from bouts of posing as a hard woman while coming across as far more fresh faced than her old classmate, Nora. The two have a strained connection that makes it oddly questionable when Kristine falls into protecting Nora's secrets within minutes of reconnecting after twelve years of absence. In the end, Kristine chooses to allow Nora's house of cards to fall, believing that the truth will serve her friend best at this point. A hard woman indeed, but despite Gibel's moments of dramatic proclamation, Kristine does end up as a multilayered paradox and we're moved to find that, underneath the posing, Gibel has gently nudged us into considering Kristine not only a purveyor of tough love, but as traditional a wife and mother as Nora ultimately refutes.
Steve Kidd's Torvald is satisfyingly patronizing and pigheaded, but he manages to appear more confused by Nora's intransigence than truly angry and his cold bitterness towards her seems born of fear more than rage. Torvald could be easily written off as a male chauvinist pig, but Sullivan steers Kidd towards something more pitiable. Nora is far from blameless in any of her actions and Kidd does not allow Torvald to be written off too easily.
Tony Estrella shines yet again in a bit of character work that has few notes but the ones he hits are all in his belting range. The ostensible villain of the piece, Krogstad, is another victim who chooses redemption (but only after it is plopped in his lap). Estrella is delightfully sleazy and it would be easier to believe that his moral leprosy is the venereal disease visited upon the hapless Dr. Rank (Tom Gleadow), who is merely a victim of his fathers indulgences.
The sins of the father/mother visited upon the children, the vagaries of materialism and moral vacuum are major themes that get their due course under Sullivan's guidance and the side trip into Helen's (Nora's housekeeper, played by Joan Batting) own story of giving up her child for adoption to nuns and the torment of that choice is simply and powerfully told. And so it is that the impact is largest when the cast stops showing us what skilled actors they are and just tell the story. When we are pushed into considering any one perspective, either by stylized performance or forced-focus light cues (each Act is buttoned by a slow fade to a special on a frozen Nora), we feel manipulated. But these excesses are slight and forgivable in the context of a show that resonates long after the discussion on the ride home. And kudos to sound designer Kerry Callery for not resisting the temptation to open the show with the
line "you better not pout" from "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as Nora enters in a burst of babbling enthusiasm.
'A Doll's House' is a deftly told tale with more questions than answers. To poke around at the man behind the curtain and question some of the technique on display is to demand an even higher level of excellence from a cast and crew that clearly helps each other draw the lines straight. Arrive early for a shot at one of the few good parking spots and enjoy a drink or coffee while you wait. If you're already familiar with the play, you'll be pleasantly surprised with this fresh, yet timeless perspective. If this is your first exposure, then expect another winner from Tony Estrella and The Gamm. And be ready to think about it for a long time afterwards.
'A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr.adapted by Tony Estrella at The Gamm Theatre. January 20-February 20 Tickets $30 & $40. Discounts for seniors, students and groups of 10 or more. Buy Tickets: (401) 723-4266 or gammtheatre.org .
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, RI
