A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART TWO

Lainie Hart as Nora, Rhys Robinson as Torvald
in Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2

 

Dolls House 2 by Lucas Hnath. 

Directed by Joel Horwood. Set design Tom Berger. Lighting design Lachlan Houen. Sound design Neville Pye. Costume design Helen Drum. Properties Coordinator Rosemary Gibbons. Stage manager Carmen King. Production Manager Liz de Toth. Set Coordinator. Russell Brown OAM Canberra Repertory Theatre. June 13-28 2025. Bookings 62571950.

 

Elaine Noos as Anne-Marie. Lainie Hart as Nora

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

It is said that when Nora Helmer slammed the door on her exit in Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House and decided to leave her husband Torvald and her children in search of her independence and true identity it was the loudest door slam in the history of the theatre. In our modern day and age such an act begs the question “What happened to Nora?” Playwright Lucas Hnath has written an intriguing and illuminating account of Nora’s imagined return after an absence of fifteen years. Now a highly successful writer, writing under a pseudonym, she has been exposed as Nora Helmer by a judge who threatens to reveal that she has been acting against the law because she is not legally divorced. It may seem a rather tenuous argument in the light of contemporary expectations, but it serves to reinforce the oppressed status of a married woman at the turn of the twentieth century. Nora (Lainie Hart), having assumed that Torvald (Rhys Robinson) had filed a divorce when she left is therefore forced to return to request a divorce from Torvald to escape the consequences of her legally illicit behaviour in the intervening years.

Elaine Noon (Anne-Marie), Anna Lorenz (Emmy), Rhys Robinson (Torvald)

To a modern audience, Hnath’s premise may require a willing suspension of disbelief, although it quickly becomes evident that Ibsen’s critical account of the woman’s subservience and powerlessness in his A Doll’s House is still the case at the time of Nora’s return in A Doll’s House, Part 2. Nora, although now an independent and highly successful woman writer is still bound by a patriarchy that denies her free will. Hnath’s A Doll’s House Part 2 ‘s polemic contends that the circumstances of Henrik Ibsen’s original play persist. In confronting the struggle, Hnath’s Nora provides a prophesy of change and a strong feminist voice for the future. There is no need for the door to slam at the end of the ninety-minute play. For today’s enlightened audience Nora’s dream for change has become a reality. The difference that remains between her and Torvald is that she can imagine that change. Torvald can’t. and there’s the rub.

Lainie Hart as Nora. Anna Lorenz as Emmy

Hnath has constructed his play as an argument. Scene one is Nora’s scene and we hear her argument. Scene Two introduces the perspective of the housemaid Anne-Marie (Elaine Noon). Scene Three introduces Torvald’s confusion and perplexity. We meet Nora’s daughter Emmy (Anna Lorenz) in Scene 4 and finally Nora and Torvald come to an understanding and conclusion to the debate. If it were not for the fact that director Joel Horwood has chosen an excellent cast, the play could become tediously didactic, but Horwood’s cast imbue their argument and opinion with articulately fleshed out character. Tom Berger’s carefully and cleverly designed set avoids any superfluity, while retaining a sense of period and middle class affluence which allows an audience to focus entirely on the contrasting arguments. The design is ideally complemented by Helen Drum’s costumes, Lachlan Houen's atmospheric lighting and Neville Pye’s blend of classical and contemporary sound design.

Horwood’s direction is purposeful, focusing clearly on his actors to play out their attitude. Hart’s Nora is effervescent. There is still the girlish playfulness of Ibsen’s songbird, but it is now imbued with the confidence of the successful and independent woman. Hart is an actress who never fails to captivate. Robinson’s Torvald captures the conservative conditioning of his gender, social standing and bewildered resistance to change perfectly. Elaine Noon’s housemaid Anne Marie is the paragon of loyal servitude. Noon’s traditional foil perfectly captures Anne Marie’s acceptance of her lot with a strength of conviction and duty. As Nora’s daughter Emmy, Anna Lorenz is her father’s daughter, engaged to a bank clerk and content to enter marriage. Lorenz combines Nora’s intelligent and independent strength of character with her father’s observance of social expectation. At times her speed of delivery lost the sense of dialogue but the characterization was entirely convincing.

All in all, Rep’s production of A Dolls House, Part 2 is a meticulously and insightfully staged performance of Hnath’s absorbing conjecture. Knowledge of Ibsen’s original drama may heighten appreciation of the relationship between the circumstances that drove Nora to leave Torvald and her journey of independence in the intervening fifteen years. However, it will not detract in any way from the enjoyment and engagement with this thought-provoking and stimulating night at the theatre.

Photos by Ross Gould

 

A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath. Directed by Joel Horwood. Canberra Repertory Canberra Rep Theatre. Until June 28. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean.

 

 This is the ultimate sequel. What happened after Nora went out that door at the end of Ibsen’s original A Doll’s House?

She went on living and after some initial struggles, quite successfully too, turning herself into a writer with a heart for women’s issues.

In this sequel she returns because she needs husband Torvald to complete a proper divorce. She’s moved on, he’s hung on. Then there’s her daughter Emmy who hasn’t figured gender issues out yet, very self assured but on the cusp of a marriage which might confine her as Nora’s did. 

And the housekeeper and maid of all work, Anne Marie, who was left to cope with Nora’s three children at the expense of her own family, has a lot of strong words to say about all of this.

Lainie Hart is a powerful and assured Nora, Elaine Noon is caring and perceptive as Anne Marie, Anna Lorenz makes daughter Emmy clear eyed and strong and Rhys Robinson as Torvald is still wonderfully struggling to understand why Nora left.

It’s a no interval fast running piece, full of fierce language and done on a set by Tom Berger that is spare and stark and elegant.  A long staircase, tall back lit windows, minimal furniture and of course the famous door is about all. And it is enough in this play which comes straight to various points in a series of terse scenes, encouraging all kinds of thoughts about the issues. Which are far from outdated.

A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2

 

Written by Lucas Hnath

Directed by Joel Horwood

A Canberra REP production

Canberra REP Theatre, Acton to 28 June

 

Reviewed by Len Power 13 June 2025

 

When Nora famously slammed that door at the end of Henrik Ibsen’s acclaimed play, ‘A Doll’s House’, we were left wondering about Nora’s fate in such an inhibiting and disapproving society of the time.

The action in Lucas Hnath’s 2017 play, set 15 years later, gives us an opportunity to revisit Nora as she suddenly returns to the house of her husband, Torvald. Assuming she has been long divorced, she was shocked to find that her husband never filed the divorce papers officially, leaving her open to legal action for signing contracts, something a married woman was not allowed to do in that era. She has only returned to persuade her husband to file those papers.

This one act play in four parts focusses on each of the four characters in the play – Nora, her husband Torvald, the maid, Anne Marie, and Nora’s now grown-up daughter, Emmy.

The role of Nora, one that most actresses would aspire to play, is given a fine, multi-layered performance by Lainie Hart. Presenting as a strong, confidant woman determined to live her own way, her delivery of the dialogue and body language give hints that life has been a struggle. We know that attitudes will not change in her lifetime and Hart shows glimpses of the pain involved in her brave struggle. It’s a thoughtful and believable performance throughout.

Rhys Robinson gives a finely detailed performance of Torvald as an inhibited, emotionally damaged man who clearly has never moved on from his marriage to Nora or changed any of his attitudes that contributed to Nora’s leaving.

Emmy is played by Anna Lorenz as a young woman who seems to have her mother’s emotional strength but surprises both us and Nora with her determination to be married and live by the rules of society that Nora long ago rejected. Lorenz gives a strong performance in the role.

Elaine Noon is very effective as the long-serving maid of the household who finds herself torn between the demands of her job and her own feelings.

The suitably austere set was designed by Tom Berger and has a fine lighting design by Lachlan Houen. Helen Drum has provided attractive period costumes.

Director, Joel Horwood, has produced a tight show where the character work is highly detailed. Keeping the language contemporary added to the accessibility of this production which works on all levels.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

Present Laughter by Noel Coward. Directed by Karen Vickery. ACT Hub. June 4-14. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean

Jarrad West as Garry. Photo Jane Duong

This is a long but rather magnificent 1940s play by Noel Coward about the theatre and the people in it, most notably the egotistical Garry Essendine (Jarrad West), pretty clearly based on Coward himself. 

There’s been a bit of editing and the gender of some of the roles have been swapped, and it’s a lengthy evening but there is much to enjoy.

Garry’s on his way to Australia (Africa in the original play) for a theatre tour but his life is being complicated by various would be lovers, and his separated but not divorced wife Liz (Crystal Mahon) seems still very much a controlling force in his life.  He’s not getting any younger either, and there’s a certain angst about that.

There is a degree of elegance in the setting and a lot to appreciate but I’m not sure that the gender changes always work for the play, despite a luminous performance by Callum Doherty as David, the very young thing who falls under Garry’s spell early in the piece. 

From left, Joanna (Karina Hudson) and  Crystal Mahon   as Liz. Photo Jane Duong,

Tracy Noble is brisk and efficient as Monica, Garry’s secretary, keeping the paperwork and the people under control.  Crystal Mahon is calm as Liz, still in Gary’s life, organising and advising  but never quite getting round to a divorce. Joe Dinn as Morris  and Amy Kowalczuk as Henrietta bring to bustling life two more of the entourage without which Gary cannot operate. The urbane Fred (Leonidas Katsanis) takes a calm control over day to day domestic worries and the sinister Swedish Miss Erikson (Jenna Roberts) takes what looks like a slapdash anecdote laced control of the cleaning.

Apart from the idealistic David the other visitors include the frankly predatory Joanna (Karina Hudson), and the harbinger of future styles of theatre, Roland Maule (Michael Cooper), who writes plays of a sort that don’t chime well with the style of Garry.

West does a great job as the exasperated self centred Garry, who has to referee and survive all of the resulting chaos.

The set (Karen Vickery and Michael Sparks) bristles with silver, multiple doors, alcohol, and opportunities to light up a cigarette.

It’s a show that proves that Noel Coward is always worth revisiting.

Alanna Maclean

 

The Bees and the Ledger, and An Satong Kawaran

Photo Media Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

The Bees and the Ledger | Kai Wasikowski

An Satong Kawaran | George Calvelo

Photo Access | 15 May – 14 June 2025

Bees in the Ledger is described as being a kind of slow family work. Whilst you may well know little about the artist’s grandmother, Natalia Broadhurst, who is the central figure in the story presented here, you very likely know a lot about other members of his family. I’ll just mention that both his parents are excellent photo media artists, and his actress sister has been known to use her camera on a film set between takes.

So where does the exhibition’s title come from? The exhibition catalogue tells us that bees remember and that a ledger works in much the same way, structuring things so we can return to names, to dates, to whatever else we've recorded in them. The artist suggests that a ledger is a hive of sorts, with each entry being akin to a cell in a beehive, storing things which might otherwise not stay within our memories. And of course it is absolutely true that photography creates contents for a ledger - a place where we store images which remind us of what we saw, of things that we were doing, or places we had visited.

In this exhibition, Kai Wasikowski share parts of his grandmothers somewhat abandoned European life, abandoned when she migrated - arriving in Australia on a cargo ship in the 1970s. There are two large walls of photographs - one of domestic scenes, the other a variety. On one wall the images are displayed in a grid, on the other as a sequence. Careful examination allows us to take in what is being shared.

Kai Wasikowski, from the series 'The Bees and the Ledger,' 2024

Kai Wasikowski, from the series 'The Bees and the Ledger,' 2024

Kai Wasikowski, from the series 'The Bees and the Ledger,' 2024

The second exhibition here is by George Calvelo, previously a photojournalist in the Philippines and currently a documentary photographer based in Canberra. His artist bio tells us his personal work now “reflects years of unprocessed thoughts stemming from witnessing systemic disinformation and simmering societal disorder in his native country.”

The title of this exhibition An Satong Kawaran translates to “In Our Absence.” As with the companion exhibition, this show is about a life left behind in another country and a new life emerging in Australia.

Before leaving his home country Calvelo exposed several rolls of film. His intention was to re-expose them after he arrived in Australia. However, using the slow deliberate process of analogue photography, he did something different from photojournalism. He photographed his memories, familiar places, his childhood home, and final moments in places where he'd said his personal goodbyes. Later, looking at overlapping images on his developed films he found it hard to cut the frames. Why? Because he felt that he was looking at a dream like state of transition, where his sense of home was evolving because of the new place that he was now living.

So what we see in this exhibition are images where photographs captured in his new home have been overlapped with photographs from his old home. The result is some most extraordinary creations. Two of the archival inkjet prints are very large - one is 100 by 340 cm, another 130 by 324 cm. The quality of these prints is superb. 

George Calvelo, from the series 'An Satong Kawaran,’ 2023/2024

In addition to the prints, the exhibition includes two other pieces. Overlaid negative strips on a light box enable us to think about his “dream-like state”.

Installation image © Eunie Kim

And there is a 06:17 length video which is a compilation of Calvelo’s visual diary and past assignments. This beautifully shows us something of where this artist has been, what he’s heard, what he saw, and how he moved through the moments displayed. There are dreamlike pieces, photojournalistic images of events during periods of martial law, glorious portrayals of the Philippines countryside, and much more.

This review is also available on the author's own blog here.

LOVE'S FOUR SEASONS

The Song Company

Eamonn Dougan, guest director

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest June 8

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

From indescribable bliss to unbearable torment, the romantic experience has created strong emotions that have long been explored in music and the arts. In the Song Company’s latest concert, the enduring power of love was traced against the four seasons of the year.

In a cleverly devised program, madrigals from the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods were juxtaposed with works by five British composers of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

The early composers – Claudio Monteverdi, Carlo Gesualdo and Barbara Strozzi – were distinct figures whose works reflected the evolution and diversity of the madrigal tradition.

The differing styles of the five contemporary composers – Howard Skempton, Healey Willan, Jonathan Dove, Kim Porter and Bernard Hughes – added a broader expression of love’s emotions against the changing seasons of the year.

For Spring, there were songs of longing and courtship. Summer was represented by songs of passion and fulfillment. The songs of Autumn focussed on doubt and separation and Winter’s loss and mourning brought the program to an end.

Internationally acclaimed guest conductor and baritone, Eamonn Dougan, is renowned for his work with The Sixteen, I Fagiolini and Britten Sinfonia Voices. He is music director of the Thomas Tallis Society and Chief Conductor for Jersey Chamber Orchestra.

From left: Amy Moore (soprano), Susannah Lawergren (soprano), Eleanor Adeney (soprano), Tom Herring (bass), Tim Reynolds (tenor) and Eamonn Dougan (baritone and guest director)

His rich baritone complemented the Song Company performers, Susannah Lawergren, soprano, Amy Moore, soprano, Eleanor Adeney, soprano, Tim Reynolds, tenor and Tom Herring, bass. Accompanying several of the songs was guest artist, Tommie Andersson, on the Theorbo.

The Song Company with Eamonn Dougan (2nd right) and Tommie Andersson (far right) on theorbo

The differing styles of the songs on the same themes provided a fascinating contrast between the early and contemporary composers. There was powerful as well as sensitive singing by the whole group as well as smaller group and solo songs that showcased the individual fine voices of this company.

The choice of songs and composers, as well as the theme of the program and the excellent performances by the singers, made this a memorable and enjoyable experience.

Photos by Dalice Trost 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 9 June 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

PRESENT LAUGHTER

 

 

Present Laughter by Noel Coward.

Directed by Karen Vickery. Lighting by Disa Swifte. Lighting assistant Rhiley Winnett. Sound. Patrick Dixon and Neville Pye. Stage Manager Disa Swifte. Costumes Fiona Leach and Jennie Norberry. Props Brenton Warren. Set Design Karen Vickery and Michael Sparks. Set realization. Michael Sparks. Social media marketing. Karina HudsonSet construction Matthew Overnell. ACT HUB. Spinifex Street Kingston. June 4 – 14 2025. Bookings: 6210 8748. Or enquiries@acthub.com.au

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Jarrad West as Garry Essendine (front) and Joe Dinn 
 as Morris Dixon (behind) in Present Laughter

“Garry Essendine is me” Noel Coward told a BBC interviewer when talking about his 1939 play Present Laughter currently playing at ACT HUB. Garry Essendine, played with magnificent histrionic flair by Jarrad West, is the lead character in Coward’s romantic comedy. Essendine is a famous, highly successful actor of romantic comedies. At forty he exudes charm that draws the besotted towards him like a magnet. He is incredibly vain, egotistical and every bit the actor. Coward knows the world of theatre intimately and in Present Laughter he takes enormous pleasure in delighting audiences with a witty display of self-mockery laced with the sharp tongue of satire and ridicule, lapsing into hilarious farce.

Callum Doherty is David. Jarrad West is Garry Essendine

Written in 1939, the onset of war prevented the staging until 1942 when war-weary audiences were hungry for rollicking, side-splitting entertainment which in this ACT HUB production director Karen Vickery and her brilliantly chosen cast serve up in a banquet of farcical fun.  The plot is paper thin, but that doesn’t matter. Coward is more intent on wickedly poking fun at his tribe’s stereotypes. Vickery does some gender swapping to give the play a contemporary touch and young actor Callum Doherty  is given the opportunity to show what a shining talent he is. Coward’s Daphne Stillington whom Essendine seduces during a one night stand in the original version becomes David, a young man in desperate love with Essendine. Joanna’s lover Henry becomes Henrietta, the intense lesbian lover of Joanna, who is playing Morris, the producer, off against Henry while “losing” a latch key to spend the night with Essendine. It is a deliciously wicked and sensual performance by Karina Hudson as the scheming Siren.  The gender swap matters not a jot in ACT HUB’s production and there is little doubt that Coward would approve of this risqué tampering with his characters.

Jenna Roberts as Miss Erikson in Present Laughter

The joy in ACT HUB’s production of Present Laughter is not in the plot per se although there is an abundance of Coward’s sharp wit and ridiculous carry-on. Seduction, besottedness, frivoulous folly and moods and tantrums keep the action darting along as Essendine struggles with a mid-life crisis the burden of adulation and a plan to tour the far-flung outpost of Australia.

The sheer delight and source of hilarious amusement lies in Vickery’ superb casting.  West’s Essendine is a tour de force example of ham acting, an over-the-top display of comic timing and theatrionics, He is almost constantly on stage , the centrifugal force of this riotous comedy. Coward’s collection of crazy and not so crazy characters comes to vivid life in the performances of a stellar supporting cast. Jenna Roberts’ house maid, an east European Miss Erikson portrays a freakish Transylvanian defiance and steals the scene. Leonidas Katsanis is the unruffled, efficient valet Fred. Callum Doherty in fairy wings and party dress is delicious absurdity at its most plaintive. Michael Cooper’s pretentious aspiring avant-garde playwright Roland Maule gives another manic scene-stealing performance. Joe Dinn’s Morris Dixon is a love-wrecked quivering fool and Amy Kowalczuk gives a finely credible performance as the severely serious lesbian lover of Joanna Lyppiatt. Coward is too clever a playwright to simply whip up a whirlwind of madness with no balance. Karina Hudson provides a more measured tempo of performance as the seductive siren. In contrast the most honest and intelligent women in Essendine’s life are his professional and efficient secretary Monica Reed, played with a calm and steadying control by Tracy Noble and his former wife Liz, who manages to keep matters on an even keel as a result of her honest and realistic love. They all succumb to Essendine’s charm, but not everyone is charmed equally. Vickery’s direction is a triumphant example of inspired casting and every actor on the stage is a delight to behold. It is not all madcap mayhem however and Vickery has chosen to capture the pathos behind the artifice as Essendine finally removes the mask to expose the vulnerability beneath.  Whether Coward would have approved of the assault on his charm offensive at the end of the play is debatable but Vickery changes the original ending and leaves Essendine confronting his true self in a play where dissimulation is the name of the game.

Michael Cooper as Roland Maule, Jarrad West as Essendine
and Callum Doherty as David in Present Laughter

Present Laughter is a full length play that lasts perhaps too long at two and a half hours with an interval. Some editing in the final act would not have been unwise. Nonetheless, Vickery and her cast and creative team have staged a wonderful revival of Coward’s mirror up to his own nature and his wonderful world of theatre. It earns its place as the hottest and funniest ticket in town.