{"id":23475,"date":"2018-09-27T16:11:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T20:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=23475"},"modified":"2018-09-27T16:49:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T20:49:59","slug":"the-past-returns-ibsens-dolls-house-is-revisited-in-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2018\/09\/the-past-returns-ibsens-dolls-house-is-revisited-in-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The past returns: Ibsen’s ‘Doll’s House’ is revisited in ‘Part 2’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If You Go<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What:<\/strong> A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em><\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, Oct. 2-6; 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Dorothy Hackett Ward Theatre in the UTC Fine Arts Center.<\/p>\n

Tickets:<\/strong> $10 for students with UTC ID; $12 general public; go to https:\/\/bit.ly\/2DCMVJU<\/a>, call (423) 425-4269 or buy them at the UTC Fine Arts Center box office.<\/p>\n

Information:<\/strong> A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em>\u00a0contains adult language.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What would you do if the wife and mother that walked out on you 15 years earlier suddenly knocked on your front door?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the premise of \u201cA Doll\u2019s House, Part 2,\u201d the latest production by the UTC Theatre Company. A follow-up to Henrik Ibsen\u2019s \u201cA Doll\u2019s House\u201d from 1879, it details the return of Nora, now a successful feminist novelist who\u2019s coming back to finalize the divorce from her husband, Torvald.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Doll\u2019s House, Part 2,\u201d which debuted in 2017 received eight Tony nominations, including Best Play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very smart play,\u201d says director Gaye Jeffers. \u201cIt\u2019s not a rimshot, comedy play. It\u2019s a thinking play trying to imagine how the world should be all these years past 1879 when Ibsen wrote the first play and realizing how much has not really changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

When those involved in the production were having meetings on how to stage and interpret it, Jeffers says the \u201cmantra\u201d was: \u201c\u2018It\u2019s still 1894\u2019 because so much has not progressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Brianna Jones plays Nora and says she feels a \u201cpersonal connection\u201d to the character. No, she hasn\u2019t walked out on a marriage; it\u2019s Nora\u2019s fiery nature and dedication to her beliefs that feel familiar, Jones says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you find what you\u2019re passionate about, that fire that ignites inside of you and just wanting to share it with other people,\u201d Jones says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re so hopeful that everyone will hear you out and be onboard. The fact that the things that we go through in today\u2019s society can directly relate to things that they go through back then and things that people will probably go through in the future, it\u2019s like: Are we really listening to each other?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the play, Nora has a close relationship with Anne-Marie, the nanny who raised her and now is taking care of Nora\u2019s children as well as Torvald. She is something of a foil to Nora, being the type of person Nora no longer wants to be.<\/p>\n

Junior Bailey Braden has the role of Anne-Marie and describes \u201cA Doll\u2019s House, Part 2\u201d as \u201cthis really fun rollercoaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no contact, no idea where Nora has gone, what she\u2019s doing,\u201d Braden explains. \u201cSo when she comes back, it kind of starts this really fun rollercoaster that you get to follow of the reunion,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all this pent-up emotions,\u201d she says. \u201cYou get to follow the ups and downs of: How do you deal with that? How do you deal with that fact that this woman, one of my best friends, she\u2019s back all of a sudden?\u201d<\/p>\n

For those worried that \u201cA Doll\u2019s House, Part 2\u201d will use the same type of language and phrasing that Ibsen wrote in 1879, which would sound very stilted and odd, Jeffers says don\u2019t fret.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt uses contemporary language and contemporary phrasing, so it\u2019s not stuffy in that way,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s very approachable for a 21st<\/sup>-century audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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