Picture: Stills of "Doll's House" Official picture
From now on, Ibsen's representative work "A DOLL'S HOUSE" returned to the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and Art Theater, and the performance won applause and heated discussion from the audience: "In the drama of more than a hundred years ago, the issues discussed are still problems today, which is enough to explain the problem. ”
"Doll's House" explores with the audience such a topic: having a happy marriage, cute children, pampering her husband, friends who can talk to... Will life be fulfilled because of this?! The story of the play tells the news that her husband Haiermao is about to be promoted to bank manager, so that the family who has been overwhelmed by constraints has finally ushered in a turnaround. All of His wife Nala's dreams seemed to be just around the corner. But on the eve of this Christmas Eve, it was not Santa Claus who knocked on the door, but Kloxte, who a few years ago borrowed money from Kloxster by forging a note to save Helmaeus' life. In order to keep his position in the bank, Croxster threatens to reveal this secret to Helmo, and as the secret is gradually revealed, Nala's long-standing illusion is peeled off layer by layer: in front of Helmo, she has never been able to become a person in the true sense of the word, but just a doll at the mercy of others. So, can the doll finally leave her "doll's house"?!
The Doll's House was the first sensation by norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and to this day is his most famous and iconic play. During China's "May Fourth" New Culture Movement, China staged "Doll's House", and in 1918, "New Youth" also published a special "Ibsen Special Number", which made Chinese know that there was a woman named "Nala" in the West, who dared to resist sexism and bravely ran away from home, and finally got rid of the fate of "dolls" bound by husband's power. During this period, Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Mao Dun, three pioneers of the "May Fourth" new cultural movement, also interpreted and judged the "Doll's House" from their own different angles, reflecting their new thinking on women's emancipation at that time.
Over the years, "Doll's House" has become a classic play staged by the world's major theaters. In 2020, the show returned and moved from the Small Theater to the Grand Theater. Director Wang Huan said, "In this version of Doll's House, I want to explore marriage. In the 'most intimate relationship' that people have built with their own hands, how can they see themselves in each other's eyes?! Speaking about the special features of this edition of "Doll's House", he believes: "'Doll's House', which has been reopened in every era, should have its difference. Ibsen himself did not define "The Doll's House" as just a 'feminist' work, and I thought it was time to dust off the dust and take a fresh look at the story that is still happening and spreading today. I'm actually one of the audience and one in the story. This version of "Doll's House" will be Chinese and will be the present. ”
(Xinmin Evening News reporter Wu Xiang)