Nora Project

They gather regularly. Yet today, somehow, everything feels different. Perhaps it is the music, or the silence... perhaps the unusual setting, or the newcomer attending such a gathering for the first time. Perhaps it is an Ibsen play that sparks a conversation—or perhaps it is all of these things together.

Henrik Ibsen’s Nora (better known in English as A Doll’s House), one of the playwright’s most celebrated works, has remained a constant presence on stages around the world since its premiere in 1879. The title character’s decision to leave what appears to be an ideal marriage was considered shocking in its time and turned the play into a scandalous sensation at its first performances. As a powerful statement on women’s rights and social position, the drama has inspired countless reinterpretations throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This production, however, does not retell Ibsen’s familiar story. It was created around Nora, through Nora, because of Nora—developed from the actors’ improvisations and shared conversations. It is not so much about Nora as it is about us.

Seven women, seven lives, seven worldviews come together on this evening. In tracing the meaning of what it means to be a Nora today, they may discover far more than they expected.

Warning: the same may happen to our unsuspecting audience.