A Doll's HouseFestival première in co-production with Plexus Polaire (France, Norway), length 75 min

Aspeli has used Ibsen’s masterpiece as a mirror. She delves into the ways in which the stories of the past intertwine with the present. The two performers use life-sized puppets to bring to life the deepest human emotions, chills, and passions. Nora, a wife and mother, who wishes to leave her life behind her, is banging her head against the invisible glass of her own existence. 

According to the performance director, it was not her intention to adapt the dramatic text to create “a contemporary version of it, but rather to use it as a mirror from the past capable of reflecting the present. The situation and the conflict in the text are inherently tied to a specific time period and my wish is to discover the kernel of truth that kept the work alive for all these years. I am intrigued by the degree of (un)consciousness with which we carry the weight of our past—both as strength and burden—and how our stories invisibly intertwine, while the past is quietly a part of our present.”

This is a story set behind “closed doors”, on a sort of isolated island, where objects and characters never leave the scene and remain frozen in time. These characters, embodied as human-sized puppets, are sometimes blurred and pushed into the background, but nevertheless maintain an enduring contact with Nora, who brings them to life through her story. She narrates her story with years of perspective, reliving it once again. Past and present intersect and encounter, while beautiful wallpapers gradually transform into a spider’s web. 

“Nora’s transformation unfolds primarily due to the continual collaboration of the visible and invisible animation. This is how Yngvild Aspeli once again proves that puppets are truly meaningful when they are used as a key element of the dramaturgy and not merely as an illustration or a support element. Thanks to this extremely elaborate work with objects and a multilevel approach to acting and interpretation, the performance affords us the opportunity to appreciate Ibsen’s entire text—one which extends well beyond its historical context and culture, the Norway of the19th century. The question of freedom chosen by Nora as she definitively leaves her husband who does not want to support her when he finds out about her secret transcends centuries.

Premiere: 25 September 2024, Linhart Hall, Cankarjev dom