Une maison de poupée

A dazzling journey into the intimacy of a home. Nora loves her husband deeply, and he loves her back. A modern couple. A free couple. Nora has been on the rise for the past two years after a more difficult period. The firmness of her character and the straightforwardness of her life tend to annoy and arouse jealousy. Torvald, who has recently been made redundant, is trying to find a new career as an artist. And there’s this secret he reveals to an old friend passing by: a few years ago, he saved Nora’s life, he says…

An adaptation

Ibsen created A Doll’s House* in Norway in 1879. The play caused a scandal, and some theaters asked him to change the ending, deemed immoral by some of the bourgeoisie at the time. In fact, the play depicts a couple whose very survival is threatened by the realization that both sides have fully assimilated the relationship of sexual domination.

I’m 31 years old, and if I choose this play today, it’s still to question our society and the feverish cohabitation between human beings often limited to their sex.

After working on the original version on stage for three weeks, I finally decided to propose an adaptation of this text, with the intention of reflecting on what constitutes a current “norm” and which has undergone - at least in France, over the last few decades - a definite evolution.

The main feature of this adaptation is an almost total inversion of the roles of Nora and Torvald, necessitating a rewrite in places.This approach makes Nora an ambitious, strong and financially independent woman, while Torvald’s power is constantly called into question.The questions the play still raises in today’s context: the illusion of freedom and the violence of the frameworks that still oppress us.

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Press reviews

In a show shivering with cold anger, Lorraine de Sagazan dissects, in real time, the decomposition of a contemporary couple. The actors improvising certain sequences watch each other from a distance, like oil on the fire (…). The effect is striking.

Joëlle Gayot, Le Monde

A trained actress whose reputation as a director has soared in just four or five years (…), Lorraine de Sagazan knows what she’s doing. In her own way: a rebellious distance from the original work, which the performers quote in order to throw it away at the threshold of the exchange, apostrophes to the audience (…) distilling points of irony and second degree, snatches of text projected on the back wall, all in a tri-frontal set-up that guarantees a relaxed atmosphere.

Gilles Renault, Libération

His brilliant idea?The redistribution of roles between Nora, the bouncy young wife, and Torvald, the husband finally appointed bank manager. (…) By reshuffling the cards, Sagazan sheds light on our ways of perceiving. (…) Today’s costumes, nods to the present, the actors’ almost animal-like attentiveness to each other, always stimulated by the slightest movement of the audience.

Emmanuelle Bouchez, Télérama

Unless women give up giving birth in order to make a work of art, they will always be regarded as objects, whether precious or disposable: who cares? Lorraine de Sagazan’s dramaturgical reversal suggests this with great intelligence.It complicates the play more than it brings it up to date, making this show - which is also a great theatrical success - an opportunity for sharp reflection and fascinating debate.

Catherine Robert, La Terrasse

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