Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” on stage at Tehran theater

July 5, 2023 - 20:57

TEHRAN –An adaptation of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play “A Doll’s House” is on stage at the Entezami Hall of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran.

Roya Safari is the director of the play, which has been translated into Persian by Bahareh Aqagolzadeh.

Hanif Barari, Marjan Hadizadeh, Farzam Safarian and Maryam Arghavani are the main members of the cast for the play, which will remain on stage until July 11.

“A Doll’s House”, play in three acts, published in Norwegian as “Et dukkehjem” in 1879 and performed the same year. 

The play centers on an ordinary family, Torvald Helmer, a bank lawyer, and his wife, Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family, while his wife assumes the role of the pretty and irresponsible little woman in order to flatter him. 

Into this arrangement intrude several hard-minded outsiders, one of whom threatens to expose a fraud that Nora had once committed without her husband’s knowledge in order to obtain a loan needed to save his life. When Nora’s act is revealed, Torvald reacts with outrage and repudiates her out of concern for his own social reputation. 

Utterly disillusioned about her husband, whom she now sees as a hollow fraud, Nora declares her independence of him and their children and leaves them, slamming the door of the house behind her.

The year 2006 marked the centenary of Ibsen’s death and that same year, “A Doll's House” was named the most widely performed play globally. 

In recognition of its historical significance, UNESCO included the autographed manuscripts of “A Doll's House” by Ibsen on the Memory of the World Register in 2001.

The play's title, often referred to as "A Doll's House," is sometimes translated as "A Doll House" by certain scholars.

Photo: A poster for “A Doll’s House” by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen

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