Belvoir‘s production of “Nora,” (adapted by Kit
Brookman and Anne-Louise Sarks) was a tightly staged and choreographed
adaptation of the famous 1979 movie “A Doll’s House,” directed by Academy Award
winner Hendrik Ibsen (which I have not seen), although it was irrelevant as
this compelling production held high esteem in its own right.
Set
Designer, Marg Horwell, evocatively sets the show in a house from what could
only be interpreted as mid-renovations (the walls and floors are void, no doors
or windows), indicative of the disparate state of Nora, who is known to her
close friends as Eleanor, and to her even better friends as Eleanora and to the
audience as Nora. Could Horwell’s choice also be an attempt to corroborate the
current trending climate of shows such as “The Block,” and “Changing Rooms,”
where mid-renovations are fuel for marriage breakdowns?
Anne-Louise
Sarks direction begins with an Oedipus complex, the common mother-son tackle (a
young son's rite-of passage) that leads to something borderline incestuous.
There was a deliberate directorial choice to create provocative closeness of
Nora’s little son Johnny to Nora’s breasts and other parts. I’m not sure what
this means, but it’s probably something to do with feminism, which makes this a
great choice!
Everything
seems OK, Nora (played by Blazey Best) and her charming husband Damien Ryan (played by
Damien Ryan) really love each other, until Damien found out that Nora was cheating
on him with a Commonwealth Dollarmites account where she had saved $9000, that’s
real money, enough to buy really good doll’s house! Then Nora really pushes it
with their relationship when she gets addicted to freckles- street talk for
MDMA is biscuits, so are freckles the new biscuits? It would seem the case when
Nora starts frantically dancing in her ill-equipped kitchen. Kit Brookman is a
young guy, so this very contemporary street talk could be a flaw, slipping the
older audiences.
WHY,
is there no credited choreographer?? I was properly impressed by this intricate
dance sequence that took place while Nora and her husband Damien had a chat,
but I didn’t even know what they were saying because I was so mesmerized by
this little girl dancing to her iPod and it was the most wonderful dance I’ve
seen in such a long time, maybe ever, and this production will undoubtedly take
a Helpmann award for the “Best Child Dance” category in 2015 and it was that
hypnotic I was so surprised that there was no standing ovation at that point
from the crowd and even though I was lifted from my seat and applauded, it was
quite clear that the audience wasn’t going to join me, but maybe they were
still recovering from all the moves by the non-credited choreographer and all
the pinkness brought by costume designer Mel Page.
The
setting for the second act took place in a different doll’s house, with a much bigger kitchen,
overshadowing this second act with an air of kitchen envy, something house (now
separated) wife Nora could only have dreamed of having during her marriage. The
conglomerate of mixed emotions, Nora walking out on her husband and kids, her
long journey and the MDMA still in her system, made her vulnerable to an
extra-martial affair with Helen (Linda Cropper). Whilst sitting intimately
in a bed, Helen put many subtle moves on Nora. Despite Helen’s persistence and
good looks, Nora decided to sleep alone that night, even though her child came
tapping on the window begging Nora to let her in.
I
would love to say this show was flawless, but I can only say that the choreography
was. This is because Linda Cropper carelessly brought her mobile phone on
stage, it went off mid performance and rather than ignoring the text, she
replied.
Well-done Belvoir, a top-notch production. See the show before
it closes.
Buy your tickets, keep theatre alive!
http://belvoir.com.au/productions/nora/
Love Pan
