The Tony award-winning A Doll’s House, Part 2, starring Bianca Amato and Zane Meas, comes to The Baxter Studio from 16 April to 10 May.
Amato, perhaps best known as Philippa de Villiers in Isidingo, returns to the South African stage to play Nora, after garnering a wealth of experience and recognition in New York City both on and off Broadway.
Zane Meas plays Torvald. Seasoned NYC-based Barbara Rubin (Kindertransport, How I Learnt to Drive) returns to her home country to take the helm as director. The play also features Charlotte Butler and Simone Neethling.
The New York Times declared A Doll’s House, Part 2, “Smart, funny and utterly engrossing”.
“There is no need to have seen the original A Doll’s House to delight in and relate to this play,” says Amato. “It stands entirely on its own and promises to ignite much recognition, laughter, and fierce debate for us all.”
In the iconic climax of Henrik Ibsen’s original play, written in 1879, Nora Helmer shockingly rejects the suffocating confines of her marriage and walks out the door, leaving behind her husband and children. We know only that she is desperate to find her own truth.
Now, 15 years later, she is back, knocking on that same door because she needs something.
What has her life been like on the outside, untethered to tradition, family, and convention? What does she want? What ensues is an expansion and a reckoning for everyone in the Helmer household. We relate to each character’s flawed but human take on relationships and responsibility. This thought-provoking and nuanced play debating the pros and cons of marriage is both moving and immensely entertaining – a sharp, often explosively hilarious investigation into societal expectations of love and tradition.
•Booking is through Webtickets online or at Pick n Pay stores.
