The evening world., 1889-12-23
"A DOLLS HOME"

Dear, chubby old Philadelphia! The
statement that the Quaker CITY people. mis-
led by the title Of Henrik Ibsen'r psyche
logical play. fiocked In their artlessneSs to
see 1t. expecting rampant Fauntleroyism
with the latest improvements, IL funny
enough to make the weeping philosopher,
Heraclitus, chuckle. OF course, scores OF
them left long before Nora withdrew from
the house OF Torvald Helmer, and l can
imagine | hear their ordinations Of disap-
pointment.
"A Dolls Home" was presented for the
first time in this city, in tho English AN
guage. by Richard Mansfeld's company at
Palmer'4 Theater OH Saturday afternoon.
New Workers who we're mp to the times knew
1bsen by repute. They were aware that the
craze-ablc L%ondoners had made a hobby Of
Ibsenism, and | rather imagine that tho
greater part Of the large audience that saw
the play saw it more ~ students than as
people who expected dramatic entertain
ment.
Ibaen has as yet obtained no strong hold
on the English-speaking public. 1t is quite
allowable to say that You don't like him. IL
you don't. Nobody will cry hereRy, and
there will be no burning at the stake OF pub
TIC OplllOH' II you hbheTIeu tnhb yOu
couldn't appreciate Shakespeare, you would
be called q Goth, and death by electricity
would be luxurious for you. But with Ibsen
it is another thing.
| must confess that the performance on
Saturday afternoon was to me extremely in
teresting. II was not the conventional
" play with its stereotyped situations
its usual comedy business, and it's tcrmina-
alton with half a dozen pairs Of lovers on
their way to the ehymencal church. "A
Dolls Home was q literary effort, written
to develop Il fixed idea, and scorniug the
convcntionalities Of the accepted drama.
lbSen tried to show that the true notion Of
marriage was the union OF souls; that a
marriage between two people 30 completely
dissimilar in natures that constant COM
munication hurt the moral lives of either.
was a crime. Perhaps he failed to do this
with the silly, frivolous Nora, whose super
fatalities too suddenly vanished in the third
act. In my opinion Ibsen proved nothing at
all in "A Dolls Home" l can zee what he
meant. and so could the intelligent audience
that raw the PLAY. But the absurdity of the
denouement with such a woman as Nora was
apparent to all.
Nora was n doll. She was the wife OF
TorNald Helmer, one of the %prigRiest of
prigs. She had two lovely children, but de-
clared that she was never happy; merely
merry, Tha sounds very mach like q distinc-
ton without a difference; but let IL pass.
Her husbands health was bad. and she
borrowed 600 from a bold. bad man to pay
for a health journey. She named her
father as security. But he was on
his death-bed, and rather than dis
turb HIM she forged his name to the
bond. Nils Kroastad, this bold, bad man.
appeared and declared that If her husband.
newly appointed as president Of a bank,
dismissed him from the position he held in
that bank he would supply him with evil
dences of his wire'S forgery. Nora's agony
and the deception of her life ure very admira-
bly, shown. But the blow falls. Krogstad
is dismissed. The husband learns every
thing.
The utterly worthless nature of Torvald "
revealed. His wife is treated to the bitterest
invectives and threats. Another letter il put
into his hand. The villain has relented,
won by the love of one of Nora's friends.
He returns the discriminating documents.
Ihereupon Torvald overwhelms his wife with
endearments. But she has instantly changed.
She is no longer a doll. She has ceased to
love her husband. She feels that they have
nothing in common. that they are strangers
and that to live together would be sin.
She consequently. without u word to her
children, resolves to leave the associations
of her married life, and as the curtain falls
she departs from her husbands house.
The character of Nora is untrue to nature.
Not one woman in this American audience
would have felt sympathy for her. Ibsen's
idea was distinctly perceptible, but the wife
was a wild piece of fiction who could never
have existed.
"A Dolls Home" is talky and pedantic.
but it il full Of gems OF thought.
~ man can never sacrifice his honor for
the woman he loves. - says Torvald.
Millions of women do this every day, u
signs Nora.
Miss Beatrice Cameron, aB the heroine.
over-acted her part. She was good in spots.
The best work done was by Mr.. Dallas, who
contributed a sketch Of a villain worthy OF
Wilton Lackaye. ALAN A
8 POLITICAL ECHOES.