Nora: A Doll's House @ Tramway, Glasgow

It’s girl power for the Citizens Theatre as they open their Citizens Women season placing female creatives at the centre of their work. And it’s about time! Olivier Award-winning Stef Smith is the first writer in the spotlight as she adapts Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play, A Doll’s House, which follows Nora, a married woman and mother whose past and lies catch up with her and destroy her family, for the modern-day audience.

Smith’s text is a homage to Ibsen’s classic with her own political voice shining through. You’ve got the frame of the original story but then three different settings of iconic female history – 1918, 1968 and 2018. The story and struggles are eternally universal as all the Nora’s face the same problems under different circumstances.

The casting of three women to play one character is genius. As a trio they are powerful in chorus but their individual performances are equally impacting. Anna Russell-Martin is thrilling and gutsy, Maryam Hamidi is soft and edgy and Molly Vevers is shrill and upbeat - showcasing how strength is present in every woman.

The presentation is complex but director Elizabeth Freestone has orchestrated the play with style and clarity. It’s an active piece that keeps you on your toes with the constant swapping of Nora’s and the jumping of time periods. If a Nora is not in the scene, she’s watching and reacting as if she was featured, so you get to pick and choose who to follow.

Emily-Jane Boyle’s movement adds a visual dynamic to the play as key points of drama are heightened with choreographed kinaesthetic responses from the actors. The famous dance of Nora is expressive and twisted, creating a tornado of franticness that ramps up the tension moving towards the climax.

There are a couple of false endings to the play with some pacing issues throughout. In the original, Nora’s future is very much up-for-grabs, but in this, the door is closed for interpretation as each Nora gets a slightly more concrete ending.

However, the story of A Doll’s House is cleverly used to reach a point of empowerment where the actors face the audience to ensure that they learn from this story. This production of Nora: A Doll’s House reminds us that “there is so much life to live", and you have to live it for yourself. It’s an energetic whirlwind but you come out of the theatre a little taller.

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Nora: A Doll’s House @ Tramway, Glasgow, run ended