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When Henrik Ibsen wrote “A Doll’s House” in 1879 Denmark, it was unusual in portraying a domestic tale of a husband and wife rather than distant heroes. In Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s current production, top-notch acting and direction make the play feel like it could have been written today and also allow us to feel all the characters’ intense and very human emotions.
While long gowns and suits (costumes by Theresa Hill) clearly reflect the play’s 19th-century setting, the characters’ attitudes, circumstances and how they speak to each other are not so different from today. In fact, wife Nora (Ceili Lang) is a little like Cher in the 1990s movie “Clueless” — pretty and well-meaning but a little ditzy about money.
Early in her marriage with Torvald (Ben Trotter), Nora borrowed a bunch of money so they could move to Italy for a year and allow him to recover from overexertion, which he did. But now she’s struggled for years to pay back the loan out of her household budget and doesn’t even know how much she’s paid or how much she still owes.
Not only that, she has never told Torvald she borrowed the money. Moreover, she’d forged her father’s signature on the loan document because she didn’t want him to be anxious about it in his dying days, which she still stands by as the right thing to do — except forgery is considered a crime in her world, and also morally reprehensible.
Is Nora wrong for acting illegally and secretively for what she considers to be two morally right reasons? Is it her fault she doesn’t know enough about how loans and the law work?
The story has a lot to do with money, but also values in general, and specifically, social roles. As Nora realizes late in the story, she’s gone from being a “doll” in her father’s house to a “doll” in her husband’s. That’s what’s expected of her, never mind how she feels or what actions — however clueless — she decides to take to protect her loved ones.
Torvald, meanwhile, completely embraces his socially prescribed role as provider, moral guide and protector of his wife, almost as if she were one of their three children. And he’s really good at it, usually saying the morally right thing, even if it’s unwittingly condescending and patronizing toward Nora.
Plus, he’s just become head of a bank, which means they are now rolling in it — except that Krogstad (Jonah Goger), the person who loaned the money to Nora, works at the bank and Torvald is about to replace him with Nora’s old friend Christine (Sallie Eskins), leading Krogstad to threaten Nora with a big reveal about the loan, which could ruin Torvald.
Meanwhile, Torvald’s old friend Dr. Rank (Ari Hagler) comes to their house literally every day and seems to be especially fond of Nora. He adds a somber and existential note when he reveals to her his advanced sickness, even as her own walls seem to be closing in darkly around her.
As directed by Michael Hovance, the actors move naturally and fluidly around the theater’s intimate stage, especially impressive given that the entire play is set in Nora and Torvald’s wood-paneled living room (designed by Maya Matthews and Sharon Stukey), which has a kind of 1970s vibe.
The setting is so domestic it feels like being a voyeur in someone’s house — hearing Nora’s private thoughts and conversations with friends and enemies, witnessing a disconcerting dance Torvald makes her do and even experiencing tension around checking the mailbox.
A final scene between Nora and Torvald is thick with all kinds of emotional extremes that would normally only be experienced between a husband and wife (and which Lang and Trotter handle brilliantly), culminating in Nora speaking calmly to Torvald about what she needs to do — and it has nothing to do with him.
“A Doll’s House” is a complex play not just about marriage but about how much we all compromise to live with each other. These truly intrepid actors, under Hovance’s caring direction, bring to life just how complicated that can be, and what it might take to not have to accept others’ values but learn your own.
Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s “A Doll’s House” continues through Sept. 14 at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call 562-997-1494 or visit LBShakespeare.org. Run time is 2 hours and 15 minutes, including intermission.