A Doll's House Curriculum Guide by Huntington Theatre Company

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Standards 3 Guidelines for Attending the Theatre 4 Artists 5 Themes for Writing & Discussion 7 Mastery Assessment 10 For Further Exploration 12 Suggested Activities 15

© Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115 January 2017 No portion of this curriculum guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education & Community Programs Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick | Director of Education djglick@huntingtontheatre.org This curriculum guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by: Alexandra Smith | Manager of Curriculum & Instruction 2

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

COMMON CORE STANDARDS

IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

STANDARDS: Student Matinee performances and pre-show workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential learning and support various combinations of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. They may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Activities are also included in this Curriculum Guide and in our pre-show workshops that support several of the Massachusetts state standards in Theatre. Other arts areas may also be addressed depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 1 •G rade 8: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. • Grades 9-10: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. • Grades 11-12: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences from from the text, including where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 2 •G rade 8: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide and objective summary of the text. • Grades 9-10: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. • Grades 11-12: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide and objective summary of the text.

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 3 •G rade 8: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 5 • Grades 9-10: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks), create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise. • Grades 11-12: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 6 • Grade 8: Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor. • Grades 11-12: Analyze a case in which grasping point of view required distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).

Reading Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7 •G rade 8: Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. •G rades 11-12: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g. recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist).

• Grades 9-10: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the themes. • Grades 11-12: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop related elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

MASSACHUSETTS STANDARDS IN THEATRE ACTING • 1.7: Create and sustain a believable character throughout a scripted or improvised scene (By the end of Grade 8). • 1 .12: Describe and analyze, in written and oral form, characters’ wants, needs, objectives, and personality characteristics (By the end of Grade 8). • 1 .13: In rehearsal and performance situations, perform as a productive and responsible member of an acting ensemble (i.e., demonstrate personal responsibility and commitment to a collaborative process) (By the end of Grade 8). • 1 .14: Create complex and believable characters through the integration of physical, vocal, and emotional choices (Grades 9-12). • 1 .15: Demonstrate an understanding of a dramatic work by developing a character analysis (Grades 9-12). • 1 .17: Demonstrate increased ability to work effectively alone and collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble (Grades 9-12).

READING AND WRITING SCRIPTS • 2.7: Read plays and stories from a variety of cultures and historical periods and identify the characters, setting, plot, theme, and conflict (By the end of Grade 8).

•2 .11: Read plays from a variety of genres and styles; compare and contrast the structure of plays to the structures of other forms of literature (Grades 9-12).

TECHNICAL THEATRE •4 .6: Draw renderings, floor plans, and/or build models of sets for a dramatic work and explain choices in using visual elements (line, shape/form, texture, color, space) and visual principals (unity, variety, harmony, balance, rhythm) (By the end of Grade 8). •4 .13: Conduct research to inform the design of sets, costumes, sound, and lighting for a dramatic production (Grades 9-12).

CONNECTIONS •S trand 6: Purposes and Meanings in the Arts — Students will describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and architecture were and are created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings (Grades PreK-12). •S trand 10: Interdisciplinary Connections — Students will apply their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, foreign languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering (Grades PreK-12).

•2 .8: Improvise characters, dialogue, and actions that focus on the development and resolution of dramatic conflicts (By the end of Grade 8).

AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to the Huntington Theatre Company. • How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? • Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience’s behavior and reactions will affect the actors’ performances. No two audiences are exactly the same, and therefore no two performances are exactly the same — this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see. • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently! • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food, gum, and drinks should not be brought into the theatre. • Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun.

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

ARTISTS PLAYWRIGHT HENRIK IBSEN Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828, in Skien, Norway, to Knud Ibsen, a merchant, and Marichen Altenburg. Young Henrik’s creative leanings were apparent early on, and his mother, who enjoyed visual art and theatre, encouraged her son’s interest in painting. While Knud was, for many years, a successful businessman, he suffered several economic setbacks when Henrik was a young teenager. Knud went bankrupt and the comfortably established Ibsen family was suddenly impoverished. Henrik, the oldest of five children, left home at the age of 15 and became an apprentice to an apothecary in the town of Grimstad. While living and working in Grimstad, Henrik made his first serious forays into creative writing, penning several poems and his first play, Catiline. He also fathered an illegitimate child during this time with whom he would have no contact, though he sent financial support to the child’s mother for many years. In 1850, Henrik Ibsen moved to the Norwegian capital of Christiania with the intent of studying medicine at Christiania University, but failed the required entrance exams. He then shifted his focus to writing full-time. After a brief stint in journalism, Ibsen was made playwright-in-residence at the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen, where he wrote, directed, and produced. His time there was a significant theatrical learning experience and allowed him to apply his new understanding of the theatre profession to his writing. Given Norway’s lack of dramatic literary heritage (most plays produced at the time were translations of French and German works), Ibsen’s early plays were considered somewhat awkward and largely unsuccessful. During his six years in Bergen, he also met Suzannah Thoresen, who he would marry in 1858 (their son, Sigurd, was born in 1859). Throughout their marriage, Suzannah devoted herself to supporting her husband’s career. In 1857, Ibsen returned to Christiania where he became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Theatre; his financially troubled tenure concluded with the theatre’s bankruptcy in 1862. Next, he took a position as a literary consultant at the Christiania Theatre. The theatre’s production of his play, The Pretenders, was poorly received. Ibsen relocated to Sorrento, Italy, in 1864 and spent the next 27 years living abroad, largely in Rome, Dresden, and Munich. These were also his most productive years, during which he wrote many of his best-known plays, including Brand (1866), Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881),

An Enemy of the People (1882), The Wild Duck (1884), The Lady from the Sea (1888), and Hedda Gabler (1890), and published a book of poetry, simply titled Poems, in 1871. Leaving his native land was both a physical and stylistic departure for Ibsen. He transitioned from attempted imitations of the melodramas and conventional well-made plays with which he was most familiar and began penning philosophically infused works that featured satire and sharp criticism of Norwegian society. Productions of his plays were rarely seen but heavily debated internationally because they broke the mold of what was considered acceptable drama (see “The Father of Modern Drama” on page 12) and were frequently censored and even banned (the London ban on Ghosts lasted 23 years). Major companies refused to produce his plays, but there were small theatres in Berlin, Paris, and London that were dedicated specifically to Ibsen’s work. The alienation and “otherness” that Ibsen’s work depicted were familiar to artists and audiences who considered themselves outsiders to the politics and culture of modern society. Despite the small theatres’ dedication and his international fame, Ibsen met little financial success as a playwright. Ibsen returned to Norway in 1891 on what was supposed to be a temporary visit, but friends convinced him to stay in Christiania. He continued to write until he suffered the first of several strokes in 1900. Henrik Ibsen died on May 23, 1906.

ADAPTER BRYONY LAVERY Bryony Lavery is a British dramatist, known for her successful award-winning play Frozen (1998). Early in her career, Lavery co-founded a theatre company called Les Oeufs Malades, as well as founding Female Trouble, a feminist cabaret group. She also served as Artistic Director of Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company, which was dedicated to the presentation of realistic images conveying the oppression of sexuality. In addition to her original plays and adaptations, she has authored translations of foreign works such as her 2007 version of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Additionally, she adapted Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island into a play which was first performed on the Olivier Stage of the National Theatre in London in 2014. Lavery has also written for television and radio, as well as books including Tallulah Bankhead and The Woman Writer’s Handbook. She has taught playwriting at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom. A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

t. charles erickson

Marianna Bassham, Nikkole Salter, Victor Williams, and McCaleb Burnett in Kirsten Greenidge’s Luck of the Irish (2012)

DIRECTOR MELIA BENSUSSEN Melia Bensussen is the recipient of a 1999 Obie Award for Outstanding Direction for her production of The Turn of the Screw. Her directing credits include work with Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, La Jolla Playhouse, Baltimore Centerstage, Hartford Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New York Shakespeare Festival, MCC Theater, Primary Stages, Long Wharf Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and People’s Light and Theatre Company (where she received a Barrymore Award nomination for Best Direction), and many others. Her Huntington Theatre Company credits include Awake and Sing!, Luck of the Irish, and Circle Mirror Transformation. Bensussen has received two Directing Awards from the Princess Grace Foundation, including their top honor, the Statuette Award for Sustained Excellence in Directing. Her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is published by Theatre Communications Group. She is featured in Women Stage Directors Speak, by Rebecca Daniels, and also in Nancy Taylor’s Women Direct Shakespeare. Her essay on The Merchant of Venice was also published by TCG in Jews, Theatre, Performance in an Intercultural Context. Bensussen is chair of the performing arts department at Emerson College in Boston.

QUESTIONS: 1. A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler are both sometimes described as Ibsen’s “feminist plays.” What does it mean to be a feminist? Does either of these plays reflect that definition? Why or why not? 6

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

2. H enrik Ibsen originally wrote A Doll’s House in his native Norwegian language and many English translations are widely available. Why would a writer such as Bryony Lavery want to create a new adaptation of the play? 3. A . In Women Stage Directors Speak, published in 1996, Melia Bensussen described her approach to choosing creative projects, saying: I do think my answers about script selection would have been different ten years ago and assume they’ll be different ten years from now. I find that I am drawn to what might be termed messy scripts — big, ambitious, maybe not fully resolved, not black and white, not cleanly packaged resolutions, ambiguous, where it’s more open to interpretation, where I can take more liberties. I don’t know if this is gender; part of me senses that it is. This is starting to change for me, but I would say that the emotional tone of an evening, the overall ideas, the big picture of it was often more important to me than the neatness of shape and form in the text. It seemed better to me to have a more complex, less defined moment than a simpler, more delineated one. Why might Bensussen have been drawn to “messy scripts” early in her directing career? How does A Doll’s House compare to her description from 20 years ago of works she finds artistically appealing? B. Compare and contrast A Doll’s House with other plays Melia Bensussen has directed for the Huntington Theatre Company: Awake and Sing!, Circle Mirror Transformation, and Luck of the Irish. Are there any common themes or subject matter in these plays? What kinds of stories does Bensussen seem to be drawn to more recently in her career?

THEMES FOR WRITING & DISCUSSION WOMEN’S SACRIFICES “It is so marvelous to know one has a secure, safe position,” Torvald Helmer comments to his wife Nora in Act I of A Doll’s House. Torvald has recently secured a new job working at a bank, a career move accompanied by a significant salary increase that will allow the Helmers to move past their previous financial struggles and live more comfortably. Although Torvald continues to caution against borrowing and debts, he believes that he has secured his family’s future. He has little awareness, however, of how much of their apparent stability rests on difficult choices Nora made on their behalf, just as the other men of A Doll’s House are ignorant of what the women in their lives sacrifice in support of their families. Despite some legal and social progress, women of the late 19th century were still dependent upon their husbands and male relatives in many ways. Financial concerns played a particularly prominent role in the life of Nora’s friend Kristine Linde, who was forced to abandon her love for the penniless Nils Krogstad to marry a wealthier man when her mother became ill. “I had two younger brothers to take care of,” she recounts in Act I. The rich man “made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Krogstad reflects in Act III that he found Kristine’s actions heartless, but Kristine cites her family obligations as her defense. “I had to . . . it was my duty to . . . exterminate all your feelings about me . . . I had a helpless mother and two little fatherless brothers! We couldn’t wait for you, Krogstad! Your ‘prospects’ couldn’t help us” (Act III). Kristine’s advantageous marriage, however, was not without some risk. “He had money . . . but also . . . a precarious business. So when he died, the whole structure toppled,” leaving Kristine with nothing (Act I). With her mother and brothers still to consider, Kristine took whatever work she could. Though her chance at real happiness appeared lost, Kristine found a sense of purpose in taking care of her family. Yet by the time she visits Nora in A Doll’s House, much has changed. “My poor mother doesn’t need me because she’s passed away,” Kristine laments. “Neither do the boys . . . they’ve got ‘positions’ and ‘can look after themselves’” (Act I). After putting others first and sacrificing herself, Kristine was left with nothing. Similarly, the Helmers’ nanny, Anne-Marie, found herself forced to sacrifice her own desires in favor of economic security. As a poor young woman pregnant out of wedlock, Anne-Marie gave up her baby in order to become a nanny to Nora and later, to Nora’s children. “How could your heart bear to give your [own] child to a stranger?” Nora asks Anne-Marie in Act II. Anne-Marie’s response is simple: “A poor unfortunate girl, I was so lucky [to have a job]. The man wasn’t prepared to do anything about it!” As for Nora, who has some economic advantages over the other female characters in the play, she remains bound under both legal regulations and societal expectations that rob her of autonomy, first under her father’s control and then under her husband’s. Torvald believes that a husband should make the decisions in a marriage and that is it the wife’s duty “to go along with” them (Act II). Thus, when Torvald fell ill, Nora felt she had little power to step in and take control of the situation. “Torvald’s a man,” she explains to Kristine. “It would be so embarrassing and

The Lonely Ones by Edvard Munch (1896)

humiliating if he thought he owed me anything” (Act I). Yet the Helmers still somehow managed to promote Torvald’s speedy recovery by taking an extended holiday in a warmer climate. Kristine is confused as to how this could be possible when Torvald is a firm believer in saving money. “A wife can’t borrow without her husband’s consent,” Kristine comments in Act I. But “what if the wife knows a thing or two about money,” Nora replies. “What if the wife has a business brain?” The restrictions on her legal rights and her husband’s expectations force Nora into a series of dangerous secret actions that leave her vulnerable, all in the name of preserving and protecting her family. When Torvald discovers and condemns her secret sacrifices, Nora’s disillusionment with her world is complete. “I’ve discovered this Christmas that the law is not what I thought,” she reflects. “And I can’t accept that the law is right. If a woman cannot spare her old dying father . . . or save her husband’s life . . . that can’t be right” (Act III).

QUESTIONS: 1. Would the events in A Doll’s House have unfolded differently if Nora had informed Torvald about the severity of his illness? Why or why not? 2. W hen Nora practices the tarantella in Act II, Torvald observes that Nora appears to be “dancing as if [her] life depended on it.” In what ways is Nora’s future dependent upon her ability to execute the dance successfully? 3. A s a lawyer, Torvald Helmer makes much of a mother’s role in shaping her children’s moral compass and character as adults. Why does Nora sacrifice her relationship with her children at the end of the play? Do her actions imply she agrees or disagrees with Torvald’s stated beliefs? A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

Henrik Ibsen at the Grand Café by Edvard Munch (1909), The Munch Museum, Oslo

PLAYING A ROLE Nora-bird. The squirrel. Skylark. My sweet gold billed gannet. Hummingbird. The More Hen. That little bird. Exotic parrot. My little songbird. My Christmas robin. Torvald Helmer has many pet names for his wife Nora, each one a reference to a small, delicate creature with a frantic energy. Torvald delights in having a wife who must be cared for and Nora eagerly takes on each identity and plays along with her husband’s games, modifying her outward behavior to suit the role he casts her in. This role-play is a key element in the Helmers’ romance. “You look so . . . What’s the word . . . ? Suspicious,” Torvald teases his wife in Act I. “That Hummingbird shouldn’t have hovered about town today.” NORA:

How could any bird watcher think that?

HELMER: Flown into a pastry shop. . . Siphoned a little honey through its beak . . .

Picked up a macaroon or two?

NORA: Torvald, I absolutely promise you I didn’t! HELMER: Now now now, of course, just my little joke . . . Darling, keep your little Christmas secrets. All will be revealed when the Christmas tree is lit. Torvald values the image of respectability and moderation, chastising Nora for spending too much money, but remembering to purchase “some really good wines” for dinner with Dr. Rank (Act I). He admonishes Nora’s friend, Kristine Linde, for knitting, which he views as an ugly, unattractive activity, and urges her to “try embroidery instead . . . It looks far more beautiful” (Act I). Torvald prioritizes an elegant, tasteful appearance and eagerly directs his wife, and others, in how to portray it. For Torvald, the roles he and Nora play are one and the same with reality, but for Nora, the role-play is a manipulation. She uses it in her efforts to persuade Torvald not to fire Krogstad from his job 8

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

at the bank. “Say your squirrel asked from her heart beautifully for you to do something,” she poses, using one of Torvald’s terms of endearment for her and transforming it into a seductive metaphor. “The squirrel would run up and down on you and do tricks if you’re kind and do what she asks . . . The lark would skylark in all the rooms, up and down . . . She would play elf-girl and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald” (Act II). Though Torvald is unmoved, Nora’s strategy plays directly into the lens through which he views their marriage. To prevent him from reading Krogstad’s letter, Nora continues to play the damsel in distress, begging Torvald to focus his time on coaching her on the dance she plans to perform at their neighbors’ Christmas party. “Look after me, Torvald . . . You must sacrifice yourself to me this evening . . . I cannot dance tomorrow if you don’t rehearse with me tonight . . . Put me right. Guide me like you usually do” (Act II). In her role as wife, Nora’s power to make decisions is limited. As her husband, Torvald is the dominant force and enjoys the power that this relationship affords him. When he and Nora return home from the party, he explains that his aloof behavior at the gathering was all part of a larger fantasy: “I’m pretending you’re my secret beloved, my young secret fiancée and no-one at the party has any idea at all that there is something between us,” he explains (Act III). Until this moment, Nora was willing to play along with whatever game Torvald initiated, but now she resists. “I don’t want this,” she replies, in rejection not just of her husband’s advances but of the false life she has been living. “You’re going to stay and give an account of yourself,” Torvald scolds her in Act III when he discovers she secretly took out a loan and forged her father’s signature. It does not matter to Torvald that Nora acted out of an effort to help him when it will shatter the public appearance he has crafted. “They’ll think I stood behind you . . . Guiding you. Urging you on,” he laments. “And this is what I can thank you for . . . you who I’ve carried in my hands all through our whole marriage” (Act III). Under traditional values and laws, Torvald saw the roles of husband and wife as similar to those of parent and child. Although Nora spent the eight years of her marriage playing the bird, the “child” is one role she cannot abide.

The disconnect in the Helmers’ marriage is apparent to the others in their orbit, as Nora’s friend Kristine knows that something must change if the Helmers are to move forward. “Right here in this house Helmer must learn everything . . . there must be a full understanding between those two that can’t happen with all this concealing and evading” (Act III). But when the concealing and evading is finally over, Torvald has his own ideas about how he and Nora’s relationship will transform. “It must look as everything’s normal,” he explains. “But of course, only to Outside Eyes . . . It’s over. After today, happiness is not an option” (Act III).

A Doll’s House (film, 1917), The Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles

QUESTIONS: 1. After Torvald forgives Nora in Act III, she leaves the room to take off her tarantella costume. Why is it significant that Nora refers to it as a “masquerade costume”? Besides literally changing her clothes, what has Nora decided to take off? 2. Consider the play’s title. In what ways has Nora been living in a doll’s house? In what ways has she perpetuated this fiction with her children? 3. A Doll’s House features a central conflict between Nora and the expectations 19th century society has placed upon men and women to adhere to specific gender roles. How does Torvald’s behavior reflect both the legal and social expectations of men of his status? 4. Are there gender roles and expectations that influence romantic relationships today? How do couples embrace or reject these expectations in forming their partnerships? Do relationships like Torvald and Nora’s exist today? Why or why not?

TRANSFORMATION Following a confrontation with her husband Torvald when they return home from their neighbors’ Christmas party, Nora leaves the room, presumably to put on her bed clothes and prepare for sleep. But moments later, Nora returns dressed for daytime. “Yes, Torvald, I’ve changed,” Nora responds to her husband’s confusion (Act III). While it is true that Nora has changed her clothes, her transformation goes deeper. As a woman dependent upon her father and then her husband, Nora had no views or beliefs of her own. “I passed from Papa’s hands to yours,” she explains. “You arranged everything to your tastes . . . Those tastes became mine or I pretended they did. I really don’t know” (Act III). But now, Nora has changed. She not only has views of her own, she is prepared to act upon them. Nora’s transformation is a long time in coming. From the day she and Torvald met more than eight years prior, they “never exchanged one serious word about one serious thing” (Act III).

On this point, the Helmers can find some agreement. When Nora stands firm in her decision to leave her husband and children, Torvald posits that she must not love him anymore, a theory which, to Torvald’s surprise, Nora confirms. “As I am now, I am no wife for you,” Nora tells Torvald, knowing that nothing will ever be the same for either of them. “I can become a different husband,” Torvald offers, but Nora is resolute (Act III). “Listen, Torvald. When a wife walks out her husband’s house as I do now, I hear according to law he’s released from all his obligations towards her. Anyway, I hearby release you from all your obligations. You must not feel bound by anything and nor must I,” she explains as Torvald pushes to maintain their current arrangement (Act III). Nora considers what the future would look like if she were to stay in her husband’s home despite the transformation of her sense of herself. Nora’s conclusion? They could reunite “only if the most wonderful thing were to happen… Both you and I would have to change so much…that…our life together could become a marriage” (Act III).

QUESTIONS: 1. Examine Acts I and II of A Doll’s House. Where does playwright Henrik Ibsen include evidence that Nora will significantly transform by the end of the play? 2. What does Torvald mean in Act III when he says that Nora will be “Torvald’s Girl Child . . . Born at Christmas”? In what ways has Nora actually been reborn? 3. Consider the play’s ending from Torvald’s perspective. In Bryony Lavery’s adaptation, the final moments of the play after Nora’s exit transpire as follows: HELMER sinks down on a chair by the door and covers his face with his hands. HELMER: Nora! Nora! (He looks round and gets up.) Empty. She’s not here anymore. (A hope leaps.) The most wonderful thing?! (From below the clang of a gate slamming shut.) ow do you interpret Torvald’s last line? What is the most H wonderful thing? In what ways might Torvald transform now that his wife has left him? Will he? A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

MASTERY ASSESSMENT ACT I 1. Describe the play’s setting. 2. What has a delivery man brought to the Helmers’ home? 3. What does Nora hide from her husband Torvald when he comes into the room? 4. What pet names does Torvald have for Nora? 5. What has Nora done for which Torvald chastises her? How does Nora justify her actions?

28. According to Torvald, how does lying affect a person’s life as a whole? 29. According to Torvald, where do liars get their immoral tendencies? 30. What has Torvald seem to have decided about Krogstad’s position at the bank?

ACT II 1. Why did Anne Marie have to give away her baby?

6. Describe Torvald’s philosophy when it comes to personal finances.

2. What does Torvald want Nora to do for the party at Consul Stenborg’s? How will Kristine help Nora prepare?

7. What does Nora ask Torvald to give her for Christmas?

3. Why was Kristine confused earlier when Dr. Rank said he knew who she was?

8. What misfortune has fallen upon Kristine Linde in the years since she and Nora last saw each other? 9. What news about Torvald does Nora share with Kristine? 10. What habit of Nora’s does Kristine observe has followed her into adulthood? 11. Why did Nora and Torvald go to Italy? According to Nora, how did they pay for the trip?

4. Who does Kristine believe loaned Nora the money for the trip to Italy? What makes her think this? 5. Why does Nora send Kristine out of the room when she hears Torvald arrive at home? 6. W hat subject did Nora and Torvald discuss earlier that Nora brings back up again?

12. Why did Kristine marry her now-deceased husband?

7. Other than Krogstad’s moral failings, what two reasons does Torvald give for why he cannot keep Krogstad on at the bank?

13. Why is Kristine bitter?

8. What does Torvald give to Helene to be delivered at once?

14. How did Nora persuade Torvald that they should travel to Italy?

9. Why does Dr. Rank think he will not be spending time with the Helmers for much longer?

15. Why did Nora lie to Torvald about the source of the money for their trip?

10. Why is Dr. Rank jealous of Kristine?

16. What has Nora secretly been spending her money on? How did she earn additional income? 17. According to Krogstad, what is the reason for his visit?

11. Describe the nature of Dr. Rank’s true feelings for Nora. 12. Why did Nora enjoy spending time with the maids when she was home with her father?

18. When Nora offers a macaroon to Dr. Rank, where does she claim they came from?

13. When Helene interrupts Nora and Dr. Rank’s conversation to give Nora a note, what does Nora claim it is about? What is it really about?

19. What reason does Nora give to Torvald for Kristine’s visit? What does Nora want Torvald to do for Kristine?

14. What information is in the letter Krogstad has in his pocket?

20. Who are Ivar, Emmy, and Bob?

15. In addition, what will Krogstad demand from Torvald? Why does Krogstad think he will be successful in achieving these ends?

21. When Krogstad returns to the Helmers’ home, what does Nora think is his reason?

16. What does Krogstad do with the letter when he leaves?

22. What does Krogstad ask Nora to do? What does he threaten to do if Nora will not help him? 23. Describe the contradiction on the contract between Nora and Krogstad. 24. What does Nora confess to Krogstad that she has done? How does she justify this action? 25. What does Torvald think was Krogstad’s reason for returning to speak to Nora? 26. For what does Torvald scold Nora? 27. For what advice does Nora ask Torvald? 10

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17. Why does Kristine think she can persuade Krogstad to change his mind? 18. What does Nora beg Torvald to help her with that evening? What is Nora’s motivation for claiming to need his assistance? 19. How does Nora prevent Torvald from going to check the letterbox? 20. Describe Nora’s dancing as she practiced the tarantella. Why is she behaving this way? 21. Why was Kristine unable to speak with Krogstad? 22. Does the play’s ending give closure to the story? Why or why not?

ACT III

16. Describe how Torvald now regards Nora.

1. W here are the Helmers while Kristine and Krogstad talk in their home?

17. When Nora returns to the room, what is she wearing?

2. D escribe the nature of the relationship between Kristine and Krogstad. 3. What does Kristine want from Krogstad? 4. W hat does Krogstad propose he should do about the letter he left for Torvald? What does Kristine think should happen instead? Why? 5. What does Kristine tell Nora she must do? 6. According to Dr. Rank, why was he entitled to a happy evening? 7. W hat will Dr. Rank be at the next masked ball? What is the implication of this? 8. W hen Torvald goes to retrieve letters from the letterbox, what does he discover is wrong with it? Who does Nora say must be to blame?

18. I n the more than eight years of their relationship, what have Nora and Torvald never sat down to do until this moment? 19. A ccording to Nora, how did her father practice injustice against her? How is this similar to how Torvald has treated her? 20. Describe how Nora felt about her marriage to Torvald until now. How has her view changed? 21. W hy does Nora think Torvald was actually right when he said she was not qualified to raise their children? 22. What has Nora decided to do? Why? 23. Why is it pointless for Torvald to forbid Nora from doing this? 24. According to Torvald, what are Nora’s holiest duties? What does Nora now believe is her duty?

9. W hat is above Dr. Rank’s name on the visiting card he left in the letterbox? What does it mean?

25. What is Nora’s response to Torvald’s assertion that she does not love him anymore?

10. W hy does Torvald think he should have forseen that Nora would be a hypocrite and a liar?

26. How did Nora expect Torvald would respond to Krogstad’s letter?

11. A ccording to Torvald, what would be the implications on him if Krogstad told the world about Nora’s crime?

27. According to Nora, who regularly sacrifices their honor for those they love?

12. H ow will Torvald change the relationship between Nora and their children?

28. When did Nora realize that she could not continue in her marriage to Torvald?

13. Who has sent a letter to Nora so late at night?

29. When a woman leaves her husband’s house, what is the implication on the husband’s obligations to his wife?

14. W hat information is contained in the letter? What enclosure does it contain? 15. W hat does Torvald now believe motivated Nora to act? How does he think they should move forward?

30. According to Nora, what would have to happen for her and Torvald to reconcile? Why is this so unlikely to happen? 31. Describe the final moment of the play.

FURTHER READING

t. charles erickson

Michael Emerson, Kate Burton, and David Lansbury in the pre-Broadway production of Hedda Gabler (2001)

RECOMMENDED PLAYS BY HENRIK IBSEN

PLAYS BY OTHER KEY REALISTIC PLAYWRIGHTS

• Brand (1865)

By George Bernard Shaw:

• Peer Gynt (1867)

• Arms and the Man (1894)

• Pillars of Society (1877)

• Major Barbara (1905)

• Ghosts (1881)

• Pygmalion (1913)

• An Enemy of the People (1882)

By Anton Chekhov:

• The Wild Duck (1884) • Hedda Gabler (1890)

• Uncle Vanya (1887) • The Seagull (1898) • Three Sisters (1900) • The Cherry Orchard (1902)

A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION THE FATHER OF MODERN DRAMA

Henrik Ibsen

Realism is a dramatic genre crafted to resemble everyday existence. It attempts to portray stories that reflect observable realities of modern life, including characters’ relationships and behaviors, costumes, and settings. Within these identifiable realities, Realism explores issues of perceived and actual alienation, pressure to conform to societal expectations and suppress individuality, and the constraints modern life places on living authentically.

During the late 19th century, popular theatre primarily featured melodramas (suspenseful depictions of heroic battles between good and evil) and well-made plays with inoffensive, predictable plot progressions and contrived happy endings. To Ibsen, these plays presented a reassuring view of society that glazed over all matters of uncertainty and moral ambiguity. Early in his career as a playwright, Ibsen tried to emulate these depictions but soon rejected them in favor of focusing on their inauthenticity. Through his plays, Ibsen sought to reveal much of modern life as an absurd construct that suppresses people’s true selves, and to explore the tension between the social self (the persona that must be cultivated and presented to the world) and the essential self (the truth of who a person is and what they want). From his early attempts at poetry through his most famous later plays, Ibsen’s writing is marked by a uniquely modern affinity for rebels and outsiders (his first poems, written in the late 1840s and early 1850s, were inspired by revolutions throughout Europe). In Ibsen’s realistic plays, characters experiencing the tension between their social and essential selves suffer intense feelings of alienation and “otherness,” qualities that characterize his entire body of work. Ibsen believed that drama should present life as it is, not how people wish it to be, which meant realistically depicting contradictions, injustices, and hypocrisy. Ibsen’s plays also feature lengthy passages of stage directions full of descriptive details about the intended setting. These passages do much more than provide information about the realistic, recognizable places where the plays occur. They are carefully and deliberately crafted to help shape plots and reveal layers of metaphor; as a result, the scenery in an Ibsen play functions as an additional character on stage. This is especially true of Ibsen’s later works, such as Hedda Gabler and A Doll’s House, which feature characters rebelling against their environments. For example, the detailed opening stage directions of Bryony Lavery’s adaptation 12

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of A Doll’s House describe “a comfortable, tasteful, but not expensively-furnished room . . . a good piano . . . a round table with armchairs and a small sofa. Towards the back of the right wall . . . a stoneware stove with two armchairs and a rocking chair around it . . . Etchings on the walls. A whatnot displaying porcelain figures and small objets d’art. A small bookcase filled with expensively bound books. A small carpet on the floor, a fire in the stove. It is a winter’s day” (Act I). Nora’s squirrel-like tendencies as a collector and spender are evident in her home and her husband even chastises her for it. “If you held on to the money I gave you, if you really bought something for yourself,” he remarks, “If it didn’t just go on the house and all sorts of bits and bobs,” he would not be so constantly handing her money (Act I). Ibsen is often called the “Father of Modern Drama” because he wrote thought-provoking plays that grappled with issues of alienation which, while common dramatic subject matter today, were quite taboo at the time. His use of realistic settings to create and develop metaphor made him a pioneer in the art and craft of playwriting. His groundbreaking exploration of the psychological development of characters created a new dramatic genre that serves as the template for many of today’s most popular writers.

QUESTIONS: 1. Compare and contrast Nora’s social self with her essential self in A Doll’s House. 2. Examine other translations and adaptations of A Doll’s House and compare and contrast the descriptions of the Helmers’ home. 3. Read one or more of Henrik Ibsen’s other realistic plays. How do the detailed descriptions of the plays’ settings help develop their plots and metaphors? 4. One of Ibsen’s plays, An Enemy of the People, was adapted by American playwright Arthur Miller in 1951. Compare and contrast Ibsen’s plays with Miller’s own work. What might have sparked Miller’s creative interest in An Enemy of the People?

THE 19TH CENTURY “NEW WOMAN” On March 1, 1894, the literary magazine The North American Review published an essay by writer and public speaker Sarah Grand entitled “The New Aspect of the Woman Question.” The question in question: Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 interrogation of the role of women in society in her essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.” In this early proto-feminist publication, Wollstonecraft argued for the legal and economic rights applied to men to be extended to women, that both sexes must be educated equally in order for society to progress, and that to remain unmarried was the only way for a woman to ensure her autonomy. By the time Grand wrote her own essay 100 years later, women had begun taking on a somewhat different role in society. In western industrialized countries in the late 19th century, women pushed for more autonomy and to no longer be legally or economically dependent on husbands, fathers, or other male relatives. They demanded education and career opportunities and the right to

Fashions advertised in an 1897 issue of Godey’s Lady Book

own property. The Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 allowed married women in England, Wales, and Ireland to own, buy, and sell their own property, thus giving them more recognition as a legal person. Meanwhile, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded in the United States in 1890, merging two existing organizations with similar goals, chief among them securing women’s right to vote. That same year, Wyoming became the first state to extend that right to women, 30 years before the 19th amendment to the constitution was ratified, guaranteeing the vote to women across the entire country. In the 1870s and 1880s, several prestigious private women’s colleges focusing on the liberal arts were chartered, including Wellesley College, Mount Holyoke College, Bryn Mawr College, and Barnard College. Yet the behavioral expectations for a domesticated female persisted and were perpetuated by magazines such as Godey’s Lady’s Book, which promoted the idea that true women embraced the values of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Coined the “Cult of True Womanhood” in 1966 by American historian Barbara Welter, these values were expected of women who played domestic roles in their families, caring for the home and children, while their husbands went to work and earned the money with which the family could purchase what they needed. These prescribed gender roles implied that the public sphere, which was troublesome and full of temptation, could only be successfully navigated by men. Women were considered too weak and delicate for such stress and conflict, and so were to keep to the privacy of the home for their own protection. Besides, someone must be responsible for the family’s daily care. But Sarah Grand posited in 1894 that a new dynamic had formed — one in which many men, dubbed by Grand “the Bawling Brotherhood,” had difficulty adjusting to and accepting women who were aware of their position and demanded reparations. Therefore women must, Grand suggested, show men the way. “Man, having no conception of himself as imperfect from the woman’s point of view, will find this difficult to understand. But we know his weakness, and will be patient with him, and help him with his lesson. It is the woman’s place and pride and pleasure to teach the child, and man morally is in his infancy.”

Suffrage parade (1913-1921)

QUESTIONS: 1. While there have been some claims that Ibsen presents a distinctively feminist view in works such as A Doll’s House, attempts to deem Ibsen an early-feminist writer are misleading because Ibsen himself rejected the idea. When the Norwegian Society for Women’s Rights wished to honor him for A Doll’s House, Ibsen responded: “I have been more of a poet and less of a social philosopher than people generally tend to suppose. I thank you for your toast, but must disclaim the honor of having consciously worked for women’s rights. I am not even quite sure what women’s rights really are. To me, it has been a question of human rights.” A. Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is considered an early example of the New Woman in literature. Do you agree or disagree with this description? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. B. Read and research other works with similar themes, such as Grant Allen’s The Woman Who Did (1895), Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins (1893) and The Beth Book (1897), Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders (1887) and Jude the Obscure (1895), and Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm (1883). How do the female characters in these works compare with Nora? How do the other characters respond to the women’s acts of independence? 2. A. How did the New Woman create the foundation for the feminist movements of the 20th and 21st centuries? What is intersectional feminism and how does it reflect criticisms of the feminist movement? B. H ow does Nora’s economic status enable her choices at the end of the play? Could Kristine Linde or Anne-Marie take similar actions? Were women of color or poor women able to see themselves in the New Woman? Are they represented in the feminist movement today? Why or why not? 3. A. Research leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Ida B. Wells. Which specific rights did they A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

henry dirocco

Gretchen Hall as Nora dances the tarantella in The Old Globe’s production of A Doll’s House (2013)

each prioritize in their activism? What strategies did they use in their efforts to organize on behalf of women? What achievements can be credited to their work? B. Research the lives of women who exemplified the New Woman feminist ideals, such as geologist Florence Bascom, and attorneys Belva Lockwood and Lutie Lytle. How did these women rise to the top of their professions? What obstacles did they encounter? 4. What was the Gibson Girl? The Flapper? Compare and contrast these feminine archetypes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the New Woman.

TARANTELLA The tarantella is a style of folk dance with light quick steps. It developed in the 15th century in southern Italy in connection with tarantism, a condition of the nervous system causing uncontrollable movements and hysteria, and believed to be caused by the bite of a lycosa tarantula spider. Musicians would surround the victim, called a taranta, and play various rhythms on guitars, mandolins, and tambourines for hours at a time. The frenzied dancing seemed to cure or at least alleviate the symptoms after about three days. In some legends about the dance’s origin, the taranta was generally a woman (though never an aristocratic one) who, depressed from her life of subordination, had fallen into a 14

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trance that could only be cured by releasing her repressed desires through music and dance. But the dance fell out of practice as religious fervor increased throughout Europe and all forms of revelry were frowned upon. Tarantella music is played in 6/8 time (a very fast version of a ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three rhythm). The solo version of the dance is typically performed by a woman and there is also a version for couples characterized by flirtatious interaction between the partners. When danced with a partner, one partner kneels while the other dances around them, with many close passes When multiple couples dance together, the tarantella is danced in alternating clockwise and counterclockwise circles, picking up speed over time.

QUESTIONS: 1. How do the tarantella’s origins and execution connect with Nora’s circumstances in A Doll’s House? Why would Ibsen choose for Nora to perform this specific dance? 2. Many well-known composers such as Rossini, Tchaikovsky, and Mendelsohn composed tarantella music during their careers. Choreographer George Balanchine created a ballet focused on this style of dance. Which other artists have created their own interpretations of tarantella music or dance?

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler are generally considered Ibsen’s “feminist plays” and have many similarities in plot, themes, and characters. Write an essay comparing and contrasting these two plays. Factors to consider include, but are not limited to: • The setting of each play. • The personalities of key characters, the roles the play in moving each story forward, and their perspectives on their circumstances: Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler, Kristine Linde and Thea Elvstead, Torvald Helmer and George Tesman, Nils Krogstad and Eilert Lovborg, Dr. Rank and Judge Brack, Anne-Marie and Berta. • The role of money. • Each play’s central conflicts, plot points, and resolution.

LETTER WRITING In A Doll’s House, Krogstad writes two letters to the Helmers, one to Torvald and one to Nora that Torvald intercepts. Torvald comments on the content of these letters and takes action based upon the information they contain, but does not read them aloud in their entirety. Use evidence from the play to write: • The letter to Torvald Helmer in which Krogstad reveals Nora’s debt for the purposes of blackmail. • The letter in which Krosgstad returns Nora’s promissory note.

DANCE THE TARANTELLA If possible, attend a local dance class or ask a dance teacher or teaching artist to visit and teach the class the tarantella. If a dance teacher is not available, use the how-to description located at ehow.com/how_5368697_do-tarantella-dance-steps.html and video of examples of the Tarantella located at youtube.com/ watch?v=TjKuSLMWn_o and youtube.com/watch?v=7K7zrefNxLo. Try recreating the dance in small groups and perform it for the class.

nile hawver

Sekou Laidlow and Andrea Syglowski will appear in A Doll’s House A DOLL’S HOUSE CURRICULUM GUIDE

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES PLAYING SUBTEXT In Realist plays, characters often convey just as much, if not more, meaning with what they do not say than what they do. Understanding subtext is vital to playing realism because how a character says something can communicate something very different from what the dialogue literally says. Begin this subtext exercise by choosing any scene from A Doll’s House and determine the following: • What is each character’s objective? What does he or she want? • What are the characters doing to get what they want? • What obstacles are standing in their way? • Who holds the power in the scene? • Who is each character’s social self? Describe the image they present to others. • Who is each character’s essential self? Deep down, how do they feel and what do they think about the situation? • What secrets are the characters keeping? What are they not revealing in words? • Read the scene out loud, taking notes on what actually happens in the scene. Next, the actors will replay the scene to reveal subtext. • Each actor should choose one word that best represents their character’s essential self. • Replay an improvised version of the scene (use your notes as a guide) in which the only vocalizations allowed are the words each actor has chosen to represent them. • Notice what happens when words are limited. How can the actors use vocal inflections to express what they really mean? Go back and replay the scene using the original dialogue, but applying the vocal tones and qualities from the improvised performance to add additional layers of meaning.

VISUAL ART AND CREATIVE WRITING: THE REALIST MOVEMENT In the mid to late 19th century, the movement to create realistic art included forms beyond the stage. Realist painters used ordinary people, from laborers to traveling passengers to butchers, to depict what life was actually like for the average person. The subjects of Realist paintings were common, ordinary situations, like a day in a butcher shop, or women sewing lace or laundering clothing. This movement was a response to Romanticism and History Painting, both of which depicted a more fantastical, unrealistic portrayal of life. Even if these paintings were based on real events, they were not realistic in style. Research a Realist painter and select one of the artist’s works (examples of Realist painters include Jean-Baptiste Greuze, William Bell Scott, Gustave Courbet, and Jules Breton). After examining the painting carefully, write your own story about what is happening in the painting. It can either be from the perspective of a character in the painting or an outside look at the scene the painting depicts. Returning from the Fields by Jules Breton (1871)

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NOTES

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