—The Daily Collegian Monday, April 11, 1977
Victorian mores create social dolls
In 'Doll House,' Nora seeks herself
By MARY BETH WAGNER
Collegian Staff Writer
At 8 p.m. on April 14-16 and ,
19-23 in the Pavilion Theatre,
the stage ;will be set for
University Theatre
Productions' "A Doll Muse,"
an English translation by Rolf
Fjelde of Henrik Ibsen's "Et
Dukkehjem" ("A Doll's
pouse"). The student preview
of the play will be at 8 p.m.
'April 13 in the Pavilion
Theatre.
Marc Elliot Field, a
graduate student of fine arts,
is directing the play as his last
step in getting his masters
degree of fine arts. Field is
completing the three-year
fine arts program at the
University the program
requires directing a play and
writing a final paper about his
experiences from the selec
tion of the play to the final
performance. As director of
the play, Field has full respon
sibility for the production.
From approximately 70
persons who auditioned, Field
has selected the people who
portray the characters in the
play. The tryouts were open to
everyone and, in fact, four
persons who are not in the
theatre department have
parts in the play.
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Field chose Fjeld's tran
slation because he .feels. it is
the most workable English
translation. Other tran
slations which Field
considered were, in. his own
terms, "not act-able."
Although Fjelde translates
the title of the play as "A Doll
House," others who have
come before him have
translated it as "A Doll's
House." The latter tran- Ibsen's play has often been
station has been used since misconstrued as a women's
1884 when William Archer liberation play. With the
made the play known to the original translation, "A Doll's
English-speaking world. House," Nora is thought to be
Archer was not a translator the doll and also the heroine
but was prompted to translate because at the end of the play
Ibsen's play after an adap- she leaves her husband and
tation of it, "Breaking A children to find herself.
Butterfly;" was performed. But Ibsen didn't write
"Breaking A Butterfly" the play for any social
received very poor reviews movement, according to
from both Ibsen's critics and Field, and the play is much
supporters. So, as an ad- more meaningful than this
vocate of Ibsen, Archer / interpretation. Field agrees
translated the play to give with Ibsen that the play
Ibsen due credit. - should not be noted as a
Archer, however, did not
translate the title correctly
from the Norwegian "Et
Dukkehjem." Rolf Fjelde, a
professor at Pratt Institute
who is also teaching at
Julliard, translated the title
correctly from Norwegian to
English. "A Doll House,"
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Archer's title implies that the
house belongs to the charac
ter who is the doll in the play,
supposedly Nora, when it does
not. Fjelde feels that " . . . the
crux of the play is not
primarily an individual but a
relationship .. . "Fjelde's
translation of the title' has
strengthened this and has also
led to larger implications in
Ibsen's favor.
"first" for women's
liberation, but rather as
bringing to the stage for the
first time serious emotional
problems in which the
solutions defy the happy
reconciliations of the Vic
torian lifestyle of the time in
which it was written.
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"A Doll House" takes place
in the 1870's. The set for the
play consists of a raised
pedestal that has-become the
characters' stage. Wooden
furniture that has been
intricately hand-carved
decorates the stage • and
matches the wood design
painted above the doors of the
set. The idea of the, false,
showy, delicate effect is to
make the audience feel that
the characters are living in a
doll house in which hap
piness is a facade.
This unreal happiness
centers on the marriage of
Nora and Torvald Helmer,
played by Sara Rush (12th
theatre) and Peter Moore
(12th-theatre). Nora and
Peter are dolls because they
are guided by forces beyond
their control Victorian 'op
pression.
Nora plays the part of the
stupid female who needs her
husband's help before she
does anything. She is a doll to
the pressures of being a
mother, , pleasing her
husband, and keeping her
home. Torvald is a doll to the
pressures of public opinion
and his job. Their happy
dream world involves other
characters in the play.
~,
All College of Education Majors
Mr. Jeff GariS will speak and
present a tape on "Interviews"
Monday, April 1 lth at 7:00 p.m.
in 413 Boucke. ~ •
All are encouraged and welcome
Sponsored by the College of
Education Student Council.
TALK TO US
For instance, Nils
Krogstad, played by John
Fahnestock (grad-theatre), is
a doll to the morality of the
Victorian, society which
ostracizes him for a crime for
which he was not legally
guilty.
"A Doll House" has been
performed differently from
Ibsen's original version. In
Lexington, Kentucky, it was
called ."The Child Bride" and
was a type 'of comedy. The
play also has appeared on
television with Jane Fonda as
Nora. Field feels that this
production ends on a wrong
note when Jane Fonda leaves
her family because she has
found all the answers. Nora in
Ibsen's play leaves because
she has many questions
about herself that she needs to
answer.
Field feels that directing "A
Doll House" is the most
"challenging and exciting"
thing that he has ever done.
Field has already directed six
plays, among them "You're A
Good Man Charlie Brown"
and "Butterflies Are Free."
"Essentially," Field says,
"the actors 'do all the work
and that it is the director's job
to organize and coordinate the
production and bring all the
Attention:
to attend.
It's your paper ... and tive to what you'll get out
what you put into it is rela- of it.
elements ,of theatre , to
gether." Field feels that it 'is
important ' to promote
creativity without "an ob
jective set of eyes and ears."
Field's enthusiasm seems
to have carried over to Peter
Moore, who feels that doing
the play is "an • actor's
dream." Moore, whb plays
Torvald in the play, also has
had roles in "Scapino" and
"Hay Fever."
Sarah Rush ,feels that she
can really. relate to' her part
because just as Nora walked
out in the end of the play filled
with questions, he will be
graduating and leaving
college without all the an
swers.
What',s significant about the
play is that many of the
problems that the characters
in "A Doll House" are faced
with are still, unresolved in
our society today. Nora walks
out on her husband and
children at the end of the play
because she wants to, break
out of the fantasy—woild she
lives in and because she feels
her husband cannot. The
ending will be expected for
contemporary thinkers but
those whose thinking is still in
the Victorian era might be
shocked. "; ,
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:Collegian
126 Carnegie
91304:00
d.Collegian arts
Singer Sykes a
good songwriter
By JOE TORI
Collegian Staff Writer
' Keith Sykes,
The Way That I Feel,'
Midsong records BKLI-2246
Good singer-songwriters
are. rare. It is not often that
you find S , person who can
write music and lyrics like
Jackson Browne or Joni
Mitchell. On "The Way That I
Feel," Keith Sykes shows that
•he can. Sykes writes songs
that come from his heart and
from his extensive travels.
His music is personal and
indhiidual and is capable of
evoking emotion from the
listener.
Sykes is 'no newcomer,
either. Some of his songs have
been ' played by Jerry Jeff
Walker and this is not his first
album. Sykes put out two
albums previously, now
underground classics.
' "Just As Long As You Love
Me," on side one, has kind of a
Buddy Holly sound that is
characteristic of "Peggy
Sue." The instrumentals are
not typical, though. The song
uses smooth acoustic-electric
guitar blended with' slide
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guitar to give a folk sound at
some,points.
Sykes finished off the side=
with a very slow and beautiful,'
piece called "The Coast Of;
Marseilles," describing his=
feelings about leaving a place,
that he has come to love.
On side two, Sykes sticks
mainly with a fast and funky,
style-of music. But, there arg',
two songs , that are - pan!'
ticularly interesting. "What's
Different About Her" is art
exuberant song, but the best"
song on the album is "Call It
Love." The song uses Sykes'
Steven Stills-like voice both
singing and talking. The
acoustic guitars play no
melody, only rhythm, and
Sykes voice fills in the rest.
The sound is very open and
rhythmic.
.It is hard to describe the
subject matter of the songs
because the description would
just restate the song titles
themselves. But the music is
not hard to describe: fast and.
slow, pensive and
rhythmic and free . . .di
verse. Keith Sykes is a rare:
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