Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-07
PRESENT THE
DOLLS HOUSE
IBSEN DRAMA GIVEN PRoDUC-
TIoN AT THE BURBANK
MISS HALL Is NORA AND MR..
eREENLEAF ToRvALD
Large Audience Witnesses Play and
Applauds Work Of Cast-WlII
Be Repeated Tomorrow
Afternoon
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

BY SIDLE LAWRENCE
In considering the plays of Norway's
master dramatist the American public is
too prone to enshroud them in a veil OF
mysticism created by the Ibsen faddists.
There is ever search for hidden mean
ings, for subtleties which do not exist;
and in reaching for the shadow, the audi
ence more often than not misses the SUBJ
stance.
Ibsen is not mystic. The successful
dramatist never is. He has been termed
realist and this designation approx
mates accuracy as nearly as may be in q
single word. Occasionally we have the
two schools combined as in the case of
Hauptmann's "Hannele,' but 1 know of
no Ibsen play of which this Is true.
Ibsen, however, Is more than a realist.
He Is "a vivasectionist of human nature.
He Is a dramatic surgeon. skillful in the
scapels use and unsparing in It's weld
ing. Therefore 1t follows that his frank.
ness is sometimes amazing because of its
very truth.
With the possible exception of Ghosts"
"a Dolls House." presented at the Bur-
bank theater yesterday afternoon and to
be repeated eft g special matinee tomor-
row afternoon, is the best known Of the
great Norwegian's plays. 1t is drama
Of domesticity in which a doll mother is
suddenly brought to realization of the
situation in which circumstances have
placed her; in which she comes to know
that her primal duty is not to feed the
egotism of a SNUG and self-complament
husband, is not even to care for her chill
dren, but Is to herself. The lesson she
the pursuit of happiness-which, in the
instance in hand, Is merely another name
for self respect.
A Woman's Woman
The character of Nora appeals with
more persuasive force to women than to
men. This point is made by Nine. ALA
Nazimova in recent article published
over her signature in The Independent.
Hedda she says, is mans woman; Nora
woman's woman. Further along, how
ever, she writes:
"But all men do not hate Nora. Some
understand her and sympathize with her
point of view. They realize that her
action in leaving her dolls house was
forced upon her. I received letter from
a man who had seen The Dolls House.
beautiful letter, that 1 prize very
highly for it shows what an influence
the drama can have on people. He
thanked me for having taught him
salutary lesson which would, he thought,
be the saving of his married life. He
realized that he, too, had been living in
dolls house. that he had treated his
wife as a child and plaything, and he
said that he was going to change 1t all
and make a real home and his wife real
wife. wrote to him that was glad If 1
had helped him. But do not know, after
all, that I did help him. Can a man re-
form his dolls house? Does it not have
to be done by the woman herself? Is not
that the whole lesson Of the play? The
husband may spoil his wife, but he can
not make her into an Independent woman,
an Individual standing upon her own
feet and knowing herself.
MANY times people ask me. Why did
Nora go away? Was she not happy?
Did she not have a kind and indulgent
husband? How could she leave those
children whom she loved and who loved
her? She had to go away to grow up.
She could not help herself so long as she
remained in those surroundings. She had
to get out of it all. Her children were
better off without her. She saw that.
What could she do with them except to
spoil them as she had been spoiled?"
Miss Halls Nora
Miss Blanche Halls Nora is a curiously
uneven Characterization, strongest in the
emotional scene which precedes Nora's
final exit from the stage, but lacking in
those earlier scenes, where Nora should
be essentially feminine and appealing. a
doll in action as we'll as in name. Nora's
colloquy with her husband, in which she
explains the reasons for her leaving him
Miss Hall handles with fine force and
conviction. She fails, however, to picture
adequately the conditions against which
she rebels. In the earlier acts there is
too much self-assurance. The doll Is not
plainly in evidence. And this defect
makes Nora's subsequent course appear
Illogical.
The Torvald of Mace Greenleaf seems
somewhat exaggerated. Nora's husband
was a complete but an unconscious ego
tist Some way or another Mr.. Greenleaf
conveys the impression that he appreci-
ates the selfishness of the character he is
portraying and this is well nigh fatal.
Harry Mestayer's Krogstad is an intel
ligently conceived effort Mr.. Mestayer
presents good likeness of the man suf-
fering for an offense committed in the
long ago. embittered, made desperate and
suspicious but ever hopeful of regenera-
ton and accepting the chance with glad
humility when it is offered him by Mrs.
Linden, once she has succeeded in allay
ing a natural suspicion regarding his
motives.
Miss Brenda Fowler is the Mrs Lin
den and David Edwin the DR.. Rank.
Yesterdays matinee was well patron
lied and augurs we'll for a continuance
of the Ibsen offerings. Probably the wo-
men in the audience outnumbered the
men by at least sixteen to one.
40 AnnIMAMNF AINIU