Niavaran Cultural Center will host ‘A Doll’s House,’ a play directed by Javad Molania for a month starting December 14.
A free adaptation of the 1879 play with the same title by the late Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), the show is Molania’s first experience as director, Mehr News Agency reported.
A three-act play in prose, the original play is significant for its critical attitude toward 19th-century marriage norms. It aroused great controversy at the time, as it concludes with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her husband and children because she wants to discover herself.
Ibsen was inspired by the belief that “a woman cannot be herself in society,” since it is “an exclusively male-dominated society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint.”
However, some argued that the play’s theme is not about women’s rights, but rather the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person.
The play criticizes the traditional roles of men and women in 19th-century marriage, “of which three crucial points are maintained in the adapted version,” the director said. “Women, family crisis and economic issues are mostly focused in the script, as they are also my own social concerns,” added Molania, inviting all Iranian women to watch the show.
Ibsen was harshly criticized for his point of view in the play, as at that time it was hard to accept that a woman might leave her home and family. As a futuristic play it is more realistic in modern times.
The show setting is also modern, as the story unravels in the present years. Clothes design, mise en scène and dialogues match contemporary styles.
Azadeh Zarei and Fereidoun Mehrani are in the cast. The play will run through January 13.
