A Doll’s House, Revisited: From High School to Broadway to Oslo
- Kathleen Kuczma
- Mar 11
- 4 min read
On a return trip to Oslo, I had the chance to visit the Ibsen Museum and reflect on A Doll’s House, a play that first captivated me in high school and I had a chance to see on Broadway with Jessica Chastain.
Two of my favorite pieces of literature from high school involve women trapped by their circumstances: the play, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and the short story, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Henrik Ibsen's play was bold at the time; arguably, it may still be bold depending on your persuasion. At the end, Nora Helmer realizes her marriage is based on illusion instead of love. She leaves her husband, Torvald and their children to find independence and discover her true self, after a memorable ending of slamming the door without looking back.
"A Doll's House" (known as "Et Dukkehjem" in Norwegian) was a required reading in high school. The Norwegian play captivated me right away. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I would excel in our comprehensive test on the topic—yet I didn't: I got a 73, demonstrating that just because something fascinates you doesn't mean you've fully understood it (at least from a test grading standpoint).
Despite a fairly active imagination, it was difficult to picture myself ever in Oslo, given I had yet to travel on a plane by that age, Yet in late 2022, I found myself walking around the neighborhood where the play took place, imaging life in the late 1870s for a Norwegian housewife.
On a second trip to Oslo last month, I had a chance to visit the Ibsen Museum and Theater, located at Henrik and his wife's Susanna's last apartment in Oslo.
Overlooking the Norwegian royal palace, the apartment was build in 1894 and has only ever had the Ibsens as it's living occupants.
Some of the original furniture remained, although the museum was in the process of receiving back some of the original wall art and paintings that had made their way to Italy. (Ibsen spent over 10 years abroad, living in both Germany and Italy, or "on the continent".)
I was the last one by a mile in my tour group, taking time to read the exhibit for each of Ibsen's many plays that I hadn't yet read. When I chatted with our tour guide, she noted that most people come to the museum not knowing who Ibsen was nor having read any of this plays.
I was lucky that by that second trip I had had the chance to see the limited run Broadway production of A Doll's House starring Jessica Chastain at the Hudson Theater in the summer of 2023.
The production was stark: no color beyond blacks, grays and blues. A rotating platform. Wooden chairs. The year, 1879, only visible before the show officially started. Jessica Chastain sitting with her arms crossed and a look I can't quite describe: part scheming, part contemplating, part annoyed. I didn't catch it at the time, but it was the look of someone who was finally going to make a decision solely for herself. The ending was even more dramatic with the open door to the busy Broadway streets as Nora walked out without looking back.
Bringing you back to February in Oslo, I continued retracing Ibsen's steps, trying to capture a present-day version from Stortingsgata, overlooking the National Theater in winter.
My wandering lead me to The Grand Hotel in Oslo, where the establishment kept a German beer on tap just for Ibsen. Instead of a beer, I opted for a coffee and basked in the bright sunlight streaming through the large windows.
Since Henrik Ibsen's plays influenced another renowned Norwegian, Edvard Munch, known for "The Scream," it was fitting for my afternoon to feature a visit to The Munch Museum (Munchmuseet), a towering glass structure offering sweeping views of the fjord and city.
There I viewed more than just "The Scream", particularly enjoying the variety in the brush strokes, color palette and the sometimes unsettling inclusion of a grim reaper type of character.
My next destination was just floating in the harbor beneath the museum - the Oslo Badstuforening, a (floating) sauna. Spread out between 8 different saunas, I ran back and forth with bare feet on the frozen ground (I forgot flip flops), dipping in 42 F or 6 C degree water as the sun set just around 5 pm local. (My bathing suit was accidentally taken by house keeping, so I had to make a quick H&M run to make it to my timeslot in time.)
I wrapped up my solo day trip adventure in Oslo reading my new copy of "A Doll's House" on the top floor of my hotel, which happened to be the second tallest building in Oslo. I could see the soft, warm lights of nearby buildings below, punctuated by the dark fingers reaching into the city of the Oslo fjord.
It was truly a magical full day, starting with a run through the trendy Grünerløkka neighborhood to the cemetery where Ibsen and Munch are buried.
Here's to just enough planning for an inspiring day of exploring new places, where the only limit is your imagination.
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