Miss
As a director, explain how you would stage Mrs Linde’s initial visit to Nora in Act One in order to highlight the difference between the two characters.
The Henrik Ibsen play, ‘A Doll’s House’ was written in 1879; greatly impacting it’s Scandinavian and German audiences due to its strong feminist theme, which Ibsen portrayed throughout the play. Mrs Linde visits Nora initially in Act One and we immediately see the strong differences between her and Nora, which can be shown through various stage directions. Despite acknowledging that ‘A Doll’s House’ is set in Norway, I will set the play on a nineteenth century naturalistic set in the form of a comfortably furnished house in Great Britain.
Firstly, I would cast Nora as a slight, blonde haired woman wearing seemingly expensive burgundy dress to portray her comparative wealth to the audience; she would have dark circles under her eyes, despite being seemingly awake and lively in order to show her inner exhaustion at being indebted to Krogstad and keeping her great secret. Mrs Linde, on the other hand, would be a taller woman, with dark brown hair, wearing dark brown clothes which are worn and obviously mended in order to show the audience her lack of wealth. She will be slightly taller than Nora and stand more upright in order to show that despite her difficult situation, she is still respectable.
When Mrs Linde first enters the room, I would show Nora’s original lack of recognition of her old friend by positioning her stood next to the chair she has just risen from on stage left, whilst Mrs Linde is stood by the doorway on stage right saying ‘Good morning’ in a questioning, uncertain tone. She will be dismissive of her visitor when asked ‘I don’t suppose you recognise me?’ by not making eye contact and facing slightly away from Mrs Linde, but upon recognition she will gradually move closer to her with each fragment of speech ‘Yes, wait a minute – surely’ and when she is certain of her identity, she will walk with
The Henrik Ibsen play, ‘A Doll’s House’ was written in 1879; greatly impacting it’s Scandinavian and German audiences due to its strong feminist theme, which Ibsen portrayed throughout the play. Mrs Linde visits Nora initially in Act One and we immediately see the strong differences between her and Nora, which can be shown through various stage directions. Despite acknowledging that ‘A Doll’s House’ is set in Norway, I will set the play on a nineteenth century naturalistic set in the form of a comfortably furnished house in Great Britain.
Firstly, I would cast Nora as a slight, blonde haired woman wearing seemingly expensive burgundy dress to portray her comparative wealth to the audience; she would have dark circles under her eyes, despite being seemingly awake and lively in order to show her inner exhaustion at being indebted to Krogstad and keeping her great secret. Mrs Linde, on the other hand, would be a taller woman, with dark brown hair, wearing dark brown clothes which are worn and obviously mended in order to show the audience her lack of wealth. She will be slightly taller than Nora and stand more upright in order to show that despite her difficult situation, she is still respectable.
When Mrs Linde first enters the room, I would show Nora’s original lack of recognition of her old friend by positioning her stood next to the chair she has just risen from on stage left, whilst Mrs Linde is stood by the doorway on stage right saying ‘Good morning’ in a questioning, uncertain tone. She will be dismissive of her visitor when asked ‘I don’t suppose you recognise me?’ by not making eye contact and facing slightly away from Mrs Linde, but upon recognition she will gradually move closer to her with each fragment of speech ‘Yes, wait a minute – surely’ and when she is certain of her identity, she will walk with