A Doll House

by Henrik Ibsen. (Usually translated into English as A Doll House or A Doll's House)

Norwegian and European production

A three-act Norwegian play in prose by Henrik Ibsen. One of the classic realist plays from the 19th century, it premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month.

The play was controversial when first published, as it is sharply critical of 19th century marriage norms. Indeed an adapted version (without the controversial ending) was prepared by Ibsen for the German production, and this was for a long time used in a number of countries, including South Africa.

South African productions

In English

Was first produced in English in South Africa in 1925, directed by C.G.S. (“Con”) de Villiers with the Unie-debatsvereniging, University of Stellenbosch, [??]*** . ****Other versions include **, A Doll’s House. Dir by Clare Stopford, Upstairs at the Market Theatre in 1990.

Afrikaans productions

Originally translated into Afrikaans by Mrs Carinus-Holzhausen as Geleende Geld ("Borrowed Money") and produced by Paul de Groot, with De Groot as Nils Krogstad, Hélèna Botha as Nora, André Huguenet as Torvald Helmer and Henry van Wyk as Dr Rank. Utilising the notorious version with the "happy ending" it opened in Caledon in February 1929, receiving varied criticism on tour – with moral indignation at Nora’s desertion of her husband on the one hand, and criticism of the happy ending from informed critics on the other. Ultimately however it still played for 200 performenaces. (See Binge, 1969; Huguenet 19*) Later produced by NTO as Die Poppehuis, in a new translation by **.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll's_House

Binge, 1969; Huguenet, 1950; Hauptfleisch, 2011

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