A Doll House

The action of A Doll House takes place at Christmas, the time of the death of the old year and the birth of the new. Two couples in this play will experience this 'turning point' of the year in radically different ways. Christine Linde and Nils Krogstad will see their lives of sorrow, forgiveness, reconciliation, (embodying the Christian aspect of the season) move from devastation to happiness. Torvald and Nora Helmer, living in 'doll house' will be expelled from their illusory Eden. They perform the season¿s pagan celebration: the Yule tree, the gifts, the tarantella dance, the feasting...If it is Nora who awakens first, it is because she, not Torvald, has been put through the violent shocks of three days drastic and examination of herself and her world. But the play ends with Torvald, and the possibility of his awakening too. The themes of the play, therefore, explore beyond the dimensions of particular social issues with which the play long has been associated. These issues are only one component of the rich human drama opened up by the dialectical action.