Three major productions in just over a year,one to be revived for the moment time next week why is this play about a Norwegian housewife so enduringly popular?When, next Wednesday evening, and Hattie Morahan picks up an armful of Christmas shopping and steps on stage to open a escape of Ibsen's A Doll's House,it will be for the third time in just over a year. Morahan first starred as Nora, the 1870s Norwegian wife and mother who realises her life is a sham, or at the Young Vic last July,but such is the production's popularity that this is its moment revival. in addition, two other, and brand modern productions have been seen in recent months: in May an adaptation by Bryony Lavery received rave reviews at the Royal Exchange in Manchester,and in April Zinnie Harris's version, set in Edwardian London and first seen at the Donmar Warehouse in London with Gillian Anderson in the lead role, and was staged by the National Theatre of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Three such tall-profile productions in the space of a few months is unusual. Morahan has already won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for her performance and was unlucky to miss out to Helen Mirren at the Oliviers. But the combination of the play's brisk and thriller-like plotting,and the sense shared by everyone involved that the play still speaks to audiences in ways that feel fresh and inviting, means there is no fear of overkill.
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Source: theguardian.com