Enter A Doll's House at Erie Playhouse

Contributed

The Erie Playhouse will be presenting the classic Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House in a modern retelling with updated language. The bare-bones set puts the local cast's acting talent and the power of the script at the forefront.

PREMIERING FRIDAY, APR. 10

While the core ideas stay intact, this version of A Doll's House is not the Henrik Ibsen play you may have read in high school or college. The reinvented version, adapted by playwright Amy Herzog in 2019, was originally written as a sort of sequel. Jessica Chastain was nominated for a Tony Award for the lead role in 2023. For the Erie Playhouse production, Carolin Lynn will be directing a cast that includes Alaina "Bunny" Manchester in the lead role of Nora.

The adaptation makes the "language more accessible to today's audience, but the 'mansplaining,' 'red-flags,' and concept of the 'trad-wife' that we recognize when we watch this version were always in the Ibsen script," explains Lynn. Manchester, who directed a show based on the original script at Gannon in 2017, says she loves "being able to revisit the work as an actor" in this "stripped down and fast-paced" version. "I love Nora, I think she is delightfully bratty and strong and an imperfect character who does brave things to try to survive an impossible culture of misogyny," Manchester adds.

The cast also includes Jim Nash, Amanda Hurd, Karl Seman, JP Driscoll (also assistant director), as well as real-life siblings Elliott Thomas Sitter and Bailey Grace Sitter as Nora's children, whom the director notes have been "lovely to work with… and notice everything, including each time someone swears." Lynn adds that while the cast is aware of the recently successful run of the Broadway production of this show, they are actively avoiding watching any part of that version and are in no way trying to re-create it. "We did like the concept of stripping the show down to the telling of the story," says Lynn. "There are no set pieces beyond a number of chairs. It's all about the acting and the telling of the story in a compelling way," Lynn adds.

Manchester says she sees Nora as quite relatable. "Her journey from doll-wife and mother to awakened woman, I think, mirrors the journey of most perimenopausal women I know," she explains. Lynn adds, "Nora does some questionable things, but interestingly enough, in the rehearsal process, we keep asking ourselves, 'are there any adults…who are not lying? Does anyone actually win?'"

Although it is a bare-bones version, the stage will contain a conceptual doll's house. "If any characters are in the house, they are visible to the audience, even if they are not in the playing area," explains the director. Lynn also notes that the Playhouse staged a production of Ibsen's A Doll's House 100 years ago. "It was so popular, it was held over. This will be a completely different production, to be sure, but we can still hope for that level of popularity." 

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through Apr. 26  // Erie Playhouse, 13 W. 10th St. // $21-$32 // Tickets and info at erieplayhouse.org