Friday, January 16, 2026
In Canadian Stage’s A Doll’s House, the house is a window within
Intermission Magazine: In A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer strives to appear as the perfect wife amid the extreme constraints of familial and societal oppression.
But as much as the play is Nora’s story, it’s her home that holds the titular role and offers a window into her inner world.
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2 comments:
I love seeing these pictures of drafting and models of sets, they really give a good insight into the creative process of the designer. This is one of the most perfect shows to use this exposed set with nowhere to hide as it adds to the characters stress of hiding things from each other. It also portrays how the character of Nora and her actions as a housewife are put on display. When looking at it with a certain lens any box set is in a way a dollhouse; three walls and a roof that is furnished by someone with a creative mind. I can imagine a giant sized child playing with this set and placing the people and furniture into the space based on whatever story they are creating in their mind. Dollhouses are things to look upon and come up with stories based on what you can see and so are performances, just in a different way.
I really liked hearing about this group’s interpretation of A Doll's House. I’m not extremely familiar with the premise, but I grasped it was about themes of familial and gender expectations. I loved that the set and costume designer, Gillian Gallow, highlighted that the set is ambiguous: is it physical, or solely in Nora, the main character's mind? I also think the costume design for this play is amazing. Even from a small picture in the article, I could tell that the character standing in the spotlight was meant to be like a porcelain doll. Her ringlets and light dress all invoke an inanimate object, not a human.
I’d love to watch this play! The dynamic between Nora and her husband seems interesting, and, like Gallow said, connected to today. Gender roles in a family are not as embedded in society; the nuclear family is no longer the norm. Yet controlling and dependent relationships are still a big issue.
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