A Doll's House, Part 2 review

"Is Torvald still broken? Is he still broken over me?" This is the question Nora (Noma Dumezweni) poses as she swans back into the house she left 15 years prior when she turned her back on her marriage and children with a now-infamous door slam. It remains one of theatre’s great unanswerable questions: what happened to Nora? 

American Obie-winning playwright Lucas Hnath offers an answer of sorts with A Doll’s House, Part 2. The play picks up where Ibsen’s seminal text concludes: at the door. Except instead of a slam, there’s a knock.

The stage starts, lidded by – yes – a giant doll’s house (design by Rae Smith), which is quickly whisked away, revealing a sparse stage adorned only with chairs and a table. The space is momentarily bathed in red, the shadow of a doorway looming. It’s a brief but beautiful effect (lighting by Azusa Ono). Anne Marie (June Watson) limps over to let Nora in. Watson is funny and delightfully no-nonsense as Anne Marie, who is worn down from years of emotional and physical labour caring for Nora’s abandoned children and heartbroken husband.

We learn of Nora’s success as a novelist, penning stories about women – and herself – under a pseudonym. There’s the sense that leaving Torvald was the best thing she ever did: she oozes cool, calm confidence. Torvald, however, has "neglected" to file their divorce papers in over a decade of separation. This provides plot but is ultimately inconsequential because what Hnath’s script offers is a forum for debate – on Ibsen’s themes and a lot more besides. Yes, it’s a lot of talking, and yes, a forum for debate sounds dry. But it isn’t. In fact, it’s scintillating and genuinely thought-provoking.

The dialogue sizzles, and no word is wasted under James Macdonald’s meticulously well-paced direction, which brings out the best from an extraordinarily good cast. Brían F O’Byrne presents a complex, vulnerable Torvald with whom you empathise deeply but also find pitiable. He’s portrayed not as a villain, but as a product of a patriarchal world. Patricia Allison is sparky as Nora’s newly-engaged grownup daughter, offering an impassioned counterargument to her mother’s staunchly held beliefs.

The stage-stealer is Dumezweni, whose presence is mesmerising and whose voice has an impact all on its own – deep, rich and powerful. While, early on, she delivers a scathing dissection of the institute of marriage, the reality of her feminist emancipation isn’t so black and white; this Nora has layers that peel away like an onion. Just when you think you’ve figured her out, a new angle presents itself, often manifested in a subtle gesture, such as Dumezweni clenching a fist behind her back.

This is an invigorating production of a play that asks many-faceted questions about love, loneliness and freedom. Definitely a doll’s house that’s worth stepping into.