Above is the first Nora from a Copenhagen performance of A Doll’s House in 1880. Below is Anjana Vasan as Nora in the 2019 Lyric Hammersmith production adapted by Tanika Gupta. Ms.Vasan plays Hermosa in that Midsummer Nights Dream that we love (also adapted by Tanika Gupta). All of the members of our household think Ms.Vasan is a comic genius. I think a sense of humor is probably what makes Nora and Torvald’s marriage not just tolerable but appealing. Looks like the original Nora had a sense of humor, too. Look at that knowing smile!
Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of A Doll’s House is on the National Curriculum in UK secondary education. I wonder if it replaced another translation of A Doll’s House. My shallow googling did not tell me fast enough. I am sure many of the English teachers that ended up teaching this script were relieved and maybe even pleased that it does not stray much from the original. I hope this play makes its way to my part of the world soon. The Huntington, Boston’s big…
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