A DOLL'S HOUSE By Henrik Ibsen’s

platform translation by Anne-Charlotte Harvey
Adapted by Kirsten Brandt and Anne-Charlotte Harvey
4 women, 3 men
running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes (one intermission)

Nora’s life is on the upswing. Her husband got a promotion, and their financial struggles are over at last. But when a man from her past reappears, bent on bringing a dangerous secret to light, everything changes: her marriage, her family, even her relationship to the world around her. The opening night of A Doll’s House was one of the seminal moments in theatre history. The play’s explosive ending and sly, insinuating tone hit its audience like a thunderbolt.

Commissioned by The Old Globe, A Doll’s House received its world premiere March 2013 directed by Kirsten Brandt.

Set by Sean Fanning, Costumes by Alina Bokovikova, Lighting by David Lee Cuthbert, Sound by Paul Peterson, Stage Manager, Jess Slocum.

Original Cast: Fred Arsenault, Richard Baird, Gretchen Hall, Jack Koenig, Amanda Naughton, Nisi Sturgis, and Katie Whalley

PRESS (Old Globe Production directed by Kirsten Brandt):

Effectively staged in the round, “A Doll’s House” has lost none of its gripping power. Much credit is due to an accessible and fluid new adaptation of Ibsen’s script by Brandt and Ibsen scholar Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey that uses contemporary language and American vernacular to uncover the subtle irony and humor in the play… In “A Doll’s House,” no one is what they seem, so the task Brandt handles with restraint and nuance is keeping each actor from tipping his or her hand too soon… Like Ibsen’s characters, it’s easy to get swept away by this well-directed tale.  – San Diego Union-Tribune

Brandt’s direction is solid. She never allowed her principal actors to remain as one-dimensional characters; she provided direction that not only extended their emotional behaviors but also made them real, complex and believable. – Gay San Diego

Ibsen’s eye-opening look into the way women were thought of in his world is personified by guest artistic director Kirsten Brandt, a San Diego favorite who brings this home in The Globe’s two-and-a-half-hour long production: carefully, subtly and methodically… With top-notch acting from the entire crew, this 1879 drama hit some pretty exposed nerves, especially with the battle over women’s rights/treatment looming on the horizon. – Examiner.com

 Press (Raven Theatre, Chicago, directed by Lauren Shouse) Feb 2020

Actors:  Amira Danan, Mike Dailey, Carmen Liao, Shadana Patterson, Nelson Rodriguez, Kelly Walker, and Gage Wallace

In its Chicago premiere, this new adaption by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey and Kirsten Brandt, with a strong, solid cast under Lauren Shouse's sharp direction, thrives with well rounded and compelling storytelling. - Broadway World

Shouse’s A Doll’s House is still a moving retelling of Ibsen’s classic which aptly emphasizes the mental strain of a woman trapped in a role that she can no longer play—a feeling that still resonates into 2020, where sexism plays out far more subtly than in the 19th century - Rescripted

Highly recommended - Chicago Reader and Around the Town Chicago

Photo Credits: Old Globe: Henry DiRocco and Sean Fanning. Raven Theatre: Michael Brosilow