A Doll's House, Part 2, MTC, Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, Tuesday 11th September 2018

A Doll's House, Part 2, MTC, Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, Tuesday 11th September 2018

" A Doll's House, Part 2" by Lucas Hnath was presented by MTC at the Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, on Tuesday 11th September 2018.

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.  I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.

" A Doll's House, Part 2" had uneven performances and did not do justice to the playwright Lucas Hnath's script.

Clearly, Marta Dusseldorp gave a stellar performance as Nora.  The staging at times was very stilted and incongruent to the contemporary language.

Deidre Rubenstein was wonderful as Anne Marie, with her limp, accent and characterisation. She is such a consistently reliable performer.

Both of these fine actresses created tension and showed us a relationship full of history.  Their interactions were totally believable, unlike all other relationships in the play.

Sadly. Greg Stone as Torvald did not work for me.  He is one of my favourite Australian actors and I have seen him in about twenty shows over the past thirty years.  I was very disappointed in his performance as it lacked any relationship history to Nora.  His characterisation was full of posturing and underdeveloped.

Even sadder, let me say nearly to the point of depression was my impression of the daughter Emma played Zoe Terakes.  One friend asked "where did they drag her from?"  I was so disgusted in her performance that included stilted vocal delivery and lack of emotion.  Her poor diction and mechanical moves made me shudder in disbelief at her casting.

Set and Costume Design by Tracy Grant Lord was the real star of the show that overwhelmed the entire production.

Video Designer, Josh Burns created some interesting visual that blurred the show from a movie and play.  These visual designs were meant to segue between locations.  Good acting should give us these images.  This was such an overproduced production.

Direction by Sarah Goodes has created an incongruent piece of theatre that struggles with language and movement from different eras.  The posturing and staged positioning were at times cringe-worthy.  The lack of relationship development between some characters made for a shallow reading of Lucas Hnath's script.

I do not think Lucas Hnath expected the following reaction:

" A Doll's House, Part 2" could have many other alternative endings.   My partner and I joked after the show about the many options.  I thought of many other versions to complete the options:  Part 3: Nora stays.  Part 4: Nora kills Torvald.  Part 5: Torvald kills Nora.  Part 6: Nora kills Emma.  Part 7: Nora kills Anne Marie.  Part 8: Anne Marie kills Nora.  Part 9: Anne Marie kills Torvald.  Part 10: Anne Marie kills Emma.  Part 11: Anne Marie shacks up with Nora. Part 12: Anne Marie shacks up with Torvald. Part 13: Anne Marie shacks up with Emma.  Part 14:  The son returns.  Part 15: Nora kills the son.  Part 16: The son kills Nora. Part 17: Nora is pregnant. Part 18: Emma is pregnant. Part 19: Anne Marie announces that she had a child to Torvald.  Part 20:  There is a musical version of these options and more.  Part 21 - 2005: Change the verb from "kill" to your desired option.

This performance certainly lends itself to the creators of  "Forbidden Broadway" who could create a "Forbidden Doll's House: A 2001 plus Stage Odyssey"

I think you get the idea that yes " A Doll's House, Part 2" was an option.  Whether the production was satisfying or not from your perspective is debatable.  Writing wise, Lucas Hnath has created a wonderful play.  Sadly the execution by two characters really lost me.  My partner felt the same way.  Talking to a friend a few weeks later, she had the same reaction about the daughter and called her "weird".  

Sadly, this was not MTC's best piece of casting.

" A Doll's House, Part 2" obtained a 7/10.