Ozaukee Living local
  • Home
  • Stories
  • Events
  • #LiveMusicLove
  • Wisconsin Theatre News

#EditorOfOzReviews Wisconsin Live Theatre 

The theatre is the only institution in the world which has been dying for four thousand years and has never succumbed.  It requires tough and devoted people to keep it alive.
John Steinbeck                    

​Be sure to subscribe to Ozaukee Living Local's weekly newsletter to get the latest in Wisconsin Theatre News!

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's  A DOLL'S HOUSE, a new version by Amy Herzog

1/27/2025

0 Comments

 
Picture
Josh Krause and Jennifer Vosters in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's production of Henrik Ibsen's A DOLL'S HOUSE, in a new version by Amy Herzog. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

By Mary Boyle

Last season, I was enthralled by my first Henrik Ibsen play, Enemy of the People, performed by the amazing First Stage Young Company and adapted by the great American playwright Arthur Miller.  Ibsen is to Norway what Charles Dickens is to England: a celebrated and beloved playwright who dared to challenge social and cultural norms in the nineteenth century.  I was excited to see that A DOLL’S HOUSE, the most famous of Ibsen’s plays, was to be a part of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s 50th Season.  Although A Doll’s House made its stage premiere in 1879, much like Enemy of the People, it is every bit as relevant and thought provoking for today’s audiences, which tells us that while the human species has certainly made progress, we still have a lot of work to do.

A Doll’s House is based on the true story of Laura Kieler, an aspiring writer who befriended Ibsen after she wrote a positive review of one of his plays.  Kieler’s husband contracted tuberculosis shortly after their wedding and, desperate to cure her husband but with no funds to follow the doctor’s orders to relocate to a warmer climate, she took out a loan without her husband’s knowledge (illegal in Norway at that time).  Her husband made a full recovery but, unable to pay the loan on her schoolteacher’s salary, her husband eventually discovered her secret crime and barred her from seeing her children.  Laura was committed her an asylum for “hysteria” – a common punishment for women who weren’t behaving as they’re expected to in that time.  Shockingly, Laura and her husband reunited two years later; she went on to become a successful writer and never forgave Ibsen for immortalizing her in his play.

This streamlined new version of the play by contemporary American playwright Amy Herzog closely follows this real tale, though the names of the people are changed.  We meet Nora (Jennifer Vosters) and Torvald Helmer (Josh Krause) on Christmas Eve, with Nora ecstatic over the news that her husband, an upright and moral lawyer, has just been named the new bank manager.  When Nora’s old friend, Kristine Linde (Kat Wodtke) unexpectedly appears on their doorstep, alone, desperate, and looking for help, Nora assures her that she will be able to sway her husband into assisting, and she does.  Then, Nora reveals a secret to Kristine about how she was able to save her husband, waving away Kristine’s alarm because, with her husband’s new income, she will be able to repay the loan she took.  Unfortunately, the man she took the loan from, Nils Krogstad (Matthew Bowdren), works at the same bank as her husband and, because Torvald can’t stand the man, decides to help Kristine by giving her Krogstad’s job.  Krogstad threatens to reveal everything to Torvald if Nora can’t save his job with the bank.  As the pressure builds, Nora leans on their family friend, Dr. Peter Rank (Anand Nagraj), her nanny Anne-Marie (Libby Amato), and Kristine for help.

Directed by Leda Hoffman, this is only the second time in MCT’s 50-year history that Ibsen’s work is being performed.  Jennifer Vosters, who makes her MCT debut as Nora, is breathtaking as she takes the audience along on Nora’s descent into panic, fear, and despair.  Josh Krause is one of my favorite Wisconsin actors, but he is often cast in funny roles, such as Crumpet at Jeeves at Sea with MCT; this makes it all the more terrifying when he plays a non-comedic role, such as Torvald Helmer – he’s so much fun to watch.  The whole cast is strong, overall – I loved seeing local Milwaukee actors Libby Amato and Kat Wodtke on the stage, again, and Anand Nagraj and Matthew Bowdren, who also make their MCT debut, were both solid in their roles. 

The title of the play comes from Nora and her experience as a daughter and a wife, and how first her father and then her husband defined her: as a doll.  A doll to be dressed up and look pleasant; to be played with when fancied, but then set aside when not; an object not to be taken too seriously.  While we like to think that this is no longer a woman’s experience in the modern world, A Doll’s House will make you question that assumption.  What does it mean to be a liberated woman?  How does the way our closest relationships view us affect our view of ourselves?  How can we be our truest selves in partnership with another person and truly be equal?  These are questions we continue to explore today; I think what’s changed is our ability and capacity to explore them.  A Doll’s House helps, in that forced empathy way that live theatre does, to explore further.
 
A DOLL’S HOUSE runs through February 9th at the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre, located at 158 N. Broadway in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. Tickets may be purchased in person at the box office, online at www.MilwaukeeChamberTheatre.com, or by calling (414) 291-7800 (Monday - Saturday, 12-6 p.m. and 2 hours before BTC showtimes).  A Doll's House is dedicated to Ruth Schudson, founder of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Special Events:
 
- Saturday, 2/1 — SipStudio: An Insider Experience, with behind the scenes sneak peeks and drinks provided by Thelma Carol Wine Merchants —5:30-7:30pm, between the matinee (4pm) and evening (8pm) shows, free and open to all Saturday ticketholders.

- Thursday, 2/6, 7:30pm — Thursday Talkback, a post-show discussion with the artists

- Friday, 2/7, 7:30pm — ASL Interpreted Performance

- Saturday, 2/8 — Ruth Schudson Leading Lady Award Reception, 6:00 - 7:30, between the matinee and evening performances, in the Skylight Bar.
 
About Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Founded in 1975, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) produces intimate and accessible theatrical works that engage and challenge the audience, while employing and nurturing principally local theatre artists.  

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Mary Boyle

    Reviewing live theatre in Wisconsin since 2014.  Proud member of the American Theatre Critics Association.

    americantheatrecritics.org

    #OzTheatre

    Memories Dinner Theater 
    Cedarburg Cultural Center 
    Cedarburg Performing Arts Center
    Cedarburg Children's Theater 

    Port Summer Musical Theatre 
     

    Dance
    Pommersche Tanzdeel 

    Music
    ​Lakeshore Symphonic Band 
    Ozaukee Chorus

    ​Port Washington City Band

    #MkeTheatre

    Milwaukee Repertory Theater 
    Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
    Skylight Music Theatre 
    Florentine Opera 
    Milwaukee Opera Theatre
    First Stage Children's Theater
    Next Act
    Renaissance Theaterworks 
    Theatre Gigante 
    Vanuard Productions 
    Secret Handshake Productions
    The Constructivists 
    Boulevard Theatre 
    Optimist Theatre

        Shakespeare in the Park 
    ​Bombshell Theatre Co.  
    Kith & Kin Theatre Collective
    Pink Umbrella Theater Co.
     
        Accessible Theater for All
    Morning Star Productions 
    Kids From Wisconsin 
    ​Milwaukee Youth Theatre


    Dance 
    Milwaukee Ballet 
    Danceworks
    Kho-Thi Dance Company 
    Water Street Dance Company 
    Wild Space Dance Company 
    Warped Dance Company 


    Music
    Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
    Festival City Symphony 
    Present Music 
    Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra - MYSO 
    The Milwaukee Choristers

    #WITheatre

    American Players Theatre
    Spring Green, WI
    Fireside Theatre
    Fort Atkinson, WI
    Door Shakespeare
    Northern Sky Theater
    Peninsula Players Theatre
    ​Third Avenue PlayWorks

    Door County, WI 
    Summit Players Theatre
        Shakespeare in State Parks
    Forward Theater Company
    Madison Shakespeare 
    Children's Theater of Madison 
    ​Madison Opera

    Madison, WI
    Sunset Playhouse
    Elm Grove, WI
    Wilson Center
    Brookfield, WI
    Waukesha Civic Theatre
    Lake Country Playhouse

    Hartland, WI 
    West Bend Theatre Co.
    Musical Masquers 
    Spotlight Productions
    West Bend, WI
    Lakeshore Productions, Inc.
    Random Lake, WI
    Kettle Moraine Playhouse
    Slinger, WI
    Sheboygan Theatre Co. 
    TYA, Sheboygan
    Weil Center
    Sheboygan, WI
    ​Falls Patio Players 
    Menomonee Falls, WI
    Schauer Arts Center
    Hartford, WI
    Ghostlight Theatre Co.
    Fond du Lac, WI
     Fond du Lac Community  Theatre
    Fond du Lac, WI
    In Tandem Theatre
    Fond du Lac, WI

    Music
    Kettle Moraine Symphony
    ​
    Umbrella Groups
    United Performing Arts Fund 
    Milwaukee Theatre Alliance
    Imagine MKE
    World Premier Wisconsin
    Mad Stage 
    Wisconsin Dance Council
    ​
    Wisconsin Arts Board  

    Small Arts & Culture Cohort
    ​

    Categories

    All
    Broadway
    Broadway At The Marcus
    Digital
    EditorOfOzReviews
    First Stage
    Forward Theater Co.
    Holidays
    Madison
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
    MkeTheatre
    Musical
    Renaissance Theaterworks
    Theatre
    The Rep
    Youth Theatre

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022

    RSS Feed

Published By:

Picture

Ozaukee Living Local
A Community Supported Publication

OLL is always looking for Contributing Writers and Photography, which is an excellent way to highlight what your business or organization is doing in Oz.  Not a writer but have a Story Idea or Event Submission?  Just contact us at:
 [email protected]  

Contact Us

[email protected]

Join our mailing list today!  One email newsletter a week, every Friday, with everything you need to know about what's happening in Oz.  
Subscribe Now
  • Home
  • Stories
  • Events
  • #LiveMusicLove
  • Wisconsin Theatre News