Hopkins Studio Players' A Doll House plays nice at Swirnow

For a play set in late 19th century Norway, A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen has surprisingly relevant themes and familiar character types that help the production translate easily into modern day American life.

It doesn't hurt that The Hopkins Studio Players' rendition of the timeless play, directed by Brandom Nielsen, does a good job of injecting life into moments of high drama throughout its three acts.

A Doll House seems at first to simply be a period piece. There is a little mystery, a little deception, a few mutton chops, some high-buttoned boots and plenty of genteel language.

But A Doll House, like its heroine Nora Helmer, as played by Jessie Gilligan, is much more than what it first appears to be. What starts off as an unassuming play eventually becomes much more serious than its at-first-glance fluffy nature would belie.

The story is one of shattered domestic bliss, and it unfolds in the unlikely sunny sitting room of Nora and Torvald Helmer. Nora is a devoted housewife and mother of three, and Torvald, played by Loren Dunn, is a newly appointed president of the local bank. Everything seems to be rosy until a past deception.

When Nora's widowed childhood friend, Christina Linde, played with impeccable timing by Sadena Thevarajah, arrives back in town, the action truly begins. In the reunion scene between the two women, Nora divulges a secret in a perverse contest to determine who is the more street-wise and self-sufficient of the two. Nora, it turns out, borrowed money from a disreputable man, Nils Krogstad, played by Steve Blank, in order to finance a trip to the warm climes of Italy -- prescribed by the family doctor -- Dr. Rank, played with comic flair by Ben Kingsland, for her ailing husband Torvald. She did it to save him, she says, and is quite pleased with her unselfish act. The only problem is that she lied to her husband about the provenance of the trip money and forged a check to get it.

The plot thickens when Krogstand, an underling at the bank that Torvald manages, finds out that he is due to be fired and approaches Nora with a threat of blackmail; either use her influence with her husband to save Krogstad's job and reputation, or risk having her deception revealed to her husband.

This threat wouldn't seem so bad -- unless you knew Torvald Helmer. Played by Dunn with great aplomb, Torvald is overbearing in his expectations of his wife: to dance, sing and serve as a pretty ornament. He is morally self-righteous, and it is only when he blasts Krogstad for his past transgressions that Nora realizes that she would be ruined in her husband's eyes if Krogstad were to make good on his threat.

With several subplots involving Dr. Rank's fixation on Nora and Christina and Krogstad's past relationship, the play is very rich and layered, providing no dearth of substance for the actors to sink their teeth into.

The action moves slowly, but when the pace quickens and conflicts finally crescendo, the actors are at their best. It is when they are shouting confessions and accusations that they really shine and manage to captivate the audience. It is also during those arguments when you wonder what took so long for Ibsen to get the characters there.

The play is focused around the point of view of Nora, and as the action unfolds, the audience is meant to feel her anxiety. As the audience finds out, there is much more to Nora and therefore the play than frippery and lace.

Nora doesn't seem to realize what she is made of until the third act -- which is about the same time the audience finds out too.

Her roof-raising declaration of independence in this scene therefore comes as a bit of a shock. There seemed to have been very little warning that such a pretty, na*ve thing could deliver such an explosive, yet insightful tirade on her unbelieving husband. But then, you reflect, Nora's character has shown a sort of latent steely strength the entire time. In saving her husband and even committing herself to the possibility of suicide upon his exposure at one point, she has displayed the ingredients required to be brave and self-sufficient all along.

The extra details and bit players to help also bring it home. Jessica Kajfasz as Anna the nanny, Tania Hamod in her Hopkins stage debut as the Helmer's maid Helene, and Lee McClure as the Porter all turn in fine performances. And set details like the molding on the walls, light fixtures and velvet armchairs and expert lighting effects all help to evoke the setting and add to the professionalism of the production.

This prescient piece with its themes of feminist identity is a sophisticated selection. It isn't easy material, but the actors manage to pull it off, and the only thing in the play's writing that I'd say doesn't translate well is a certain soap operatic convention wherein characters stand in an empty room and lament their situations aloud as evidence of their inner turmoil instead of acting it out. This technique might have been palatable in 1879 but is somewhat laughable to hear acted out loud today.

If you missed A Doll House this past weekend due to the opening of Copenhagen and Vagina Monologues, make your way down to Swirnow this weekend and see what is an elegantly written and professionally done play.