UW-Eau Claire’s music and theatre arts department presented their opening night of “A Doll’s House” on Friday, Feb. 28 in Jamf Theatre at the Pablo Center.

The classic play was originally written by Henrik Ibsen and premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, where it quickly received a controversial response from the audience. The plot suggested feminist themes and a critique of gendered societal expectations that went against the norms of that era.

“A Doll’s House” focuses on young housewife Nora Helmer who appears to be content in her marriage to her husband, Torvald Helmer. The plot, however, gradually reveals her dissatisfaction with her current life.

After secretly borrowing money to help her husband recover from illness and facing blackmail because of it, Nora confides in Torvald but sees his true nature in his alarming reaction. Nora realizes her marriage is based on illusions and decides to leave, finally exploring self-discovery and independence.

UW-Eau Claire originally planned to present “A Doll’s House” in March of 2020, but the sudden impact of the coronavirus pandemic prevented the theatre from doing so.

Arthur Grothe, a professor of theatre arts, was the director of the play in 2020 and has resumed the role again for 2025.

“Five years ago, we were cast, ready to go into rehearsal, sitting there in a final production meeting, finishing up a couple of details and then everything got shut down and we had a much different interpretation that time,” Grothe said.

In 2020, the department was planning on taking a more modern approach, according to Grothe. For this year, however, they decided to set the play in the 1950s.

“We went for 1955, which puts us smack dab in that decade, and it was a way to modernize the story with it still making sense,” Grothe said. “One of the major plot points is that Nora couldn’t take out a loan without her husband or her father’s signature. Well, in 2025, that doesn’t really make sense, but in 1955, it does.”

Fourth-year musical theatre student Alexcia Johnson played the role of Nora Helmer. She said that the rehearsal process began on Jan. 27, the first day of spring semester classes, meaning that the group only had one month to prepare.

“I had meetings with the director of the play and we had a lot of discussions about character development, understanding the subtext and representing this larger issue that the playwright wanted to tackle,” Johnson said.

Third-year theatre student Billy Tensen played the role of Torvald Helmer. He said establishing a 1950s setting was to show that the topic of the play could remain relevant in multiple different time periods.

“There are things in this play that are still relevant even today,” Tensen said. “It helps accentuate the point that, while this play is over 100 years old, it still has topics that ring true today.”

Tensen said the translation of the play used for UW-Eau Claire’s production was written by Simon Stephens in 2012, which included the same text, story and characters but through a more modern language.

Johnson said that the details of Nora’s outfits had intentional meaning during the play, symbolizing her character development as the plot continued.

“As you see (Nora) pulling away from this idealistic world that she’s trying to hold together, you see her slowly lose the color and the need to present and perform for her husband,” Johnson said. “She starts in this hot pink dress and she ends in this sweater and pants.”

Grothe said that Nora’s fight to become a fully autonomous human being allows the play to continue its relevance today.

“What’s at the core of the play is that Nora deserves to be seen, heard and recognized as a human being,” Grothe said. “Not just as a wife, not just as a mother, but as a whole being.”

“A Doll’s House” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, March 1, March 5-8 and at 1:30 p.m. on March 2 and March 9. Tickets are available on the Pablo Center’s website.

Matczak can be reached at [email protected].