Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ gets a new setting in world premiere currently at Two River Theater

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The new version of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 classic “A Doll’s House” that is currently having its world premiere at Two River Theater in Red Bank moves the setting from 19th century Norway to 1950s New Jersey: Torvald Helmer is now a Guyanese immigrant, and his wife Nora is biracial. This allows adapter and director Justin Emeka to add another layer of meaning to the play — Nora is struggling to escape racism as well as sexism.

T. CHARLES ERICKSON

Joshua Echebiri in “A Doll’s House.”

The central conflict of the play is still, though, between the strong-willed Nora (played here with larger-than-life presence by Cara Ricketts) and the controlling and condescending Torvald (Joshua Echebiri, who effectively transforms from benign to fiercely indignant when the script calls for it). When Nora finally stood up to Torvald, in the play’s second act, crowd members in the audience I was in broke out into spontaneous applause.

“A Doll’s House” has come to be known as a landmark play, for both its realism and its feminist theme (or, to use the term that Ibsen preferred, “humanist”), and for Norah’s righteous epiphany — which, when delivered by an actress as talented as Ricketts, still packs a dramatic jolt, even though you know it’s coming.

That said, I found myself wishing for a more thorough updating of the play. Though the setting is stated in the program, as I mentioned, as “1950s New Jersey,” there is not much to ground it in that time and place. There is very little in it that would prevent you from thinking it was taking place in the ’40s or the ’60s, and in just about any American city, as far as I could tell. And while we hear about racist limitations from Nora, and from her friend Christine (Pascale Armand), it would have had more impact to have shown the discrimination, dramatically, than just it be discussed by the characters. But that’s hard to do in a play that takes place entirely in a handsomely decorated suburban living room.

Nora and Torvald live a life that makes them seem more like wealthy 19th century Europeans than middle class ’50s New Jerseyans. They spend a lot of time preparing for a ball. Nora mentions that she and Torvald spent a year in Italy to help him recover from an illness — for how many 1950s New Jerseyans was that really an option? Their friend Dr. Rank (Russell G. Jones) is so unburdened by his professional responsibilities that he has time for leisurely daily visits.

T. CHARLES ERICKSON

Cara Ricketts and Russell G. Jones in “A Doll’s House.”

While Nora and Torvald’s children are characters in Ibsen’s original play, they are absent here — visiting their grandmother in Guyana, we are told — though they are occasionally discussed. And photos of them are visible on the wall — reminding us that if Nora abandons Torvald, she is abandoning them as well. (Nora mentions that she is aware of this, but does not dwell on it for more than a brief moment, which did not ring true for me.)

Emeka also scraps the character of the nanny, but cleverly turns Helene, the maid in the original play, into Helen, Torvald’s sister, whom he brought back from Guyana when he dropped the kids off, and who is helping out around the house. Helen, played by Caylen Bryant, is an aspiring cellist and, at times, Bryant adds to the play’s atmosphere by playing solo cello pieces. Some of her short pieces feature Christmas music (since the play takes place at Christmastime), and some are made up of music that she composed herself.

Rounding out the six-person cast is Ian Lassiter as Nils Krogstad, the glowering bank employee who threatens to blackmail Nora in order to force Torvald not to fire him at the bank, where Torvald is about to rise to the position of manager.

“A Doll’s House” admirers of many different nationalities have remade the play over the last 150 years or so. “Ibsen’s work doesn’t resist re-contextualization — it invites it,” Emeka has said, explaining why he has taking on this very bold project.

Emeka also said: “His plays don’t tell us what to think; they ask us to sit with discomfort and complexity, which is something theater is still grappling with today.” In regard to this, this “A Doll’s House” very much lives up to the ambition of the original.

Two River Theater in Red Bank will present “A Doll’s House” through March 15. Visit tworivertheater.org.

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