A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2

After seeing playwright Lucas Hnath’s fascinating Dana H. at the Douglas six years ago, I decided that I’d be happy to see anything he writes. (Although he didn’t really write that show—he more conceived it. I explain it all in my review of that unique presentation, which you can read right here: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/theatre-dana-h.)

So even though I’m not a fan of very old classic plays, such as Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, (written in 1879,) I decided to take a chance on Hnath’s unofficial sequel to it, A Doll’s House, Part 2, playing now at the Pasadena Playhouse.

And I was pleasantly surprised to find…a comedy! It’s mainly very amusing. The opening night audience seemed to get every bit of the humor.

The play picks-up the original tale fifteen years hence. (See? I know old-timey jargon, as well.) In case you’re not familiar with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, (which I’m sure is most of you—at least the ones who didn’t grow-up to all of a sudden take an interest in the arts that you never did in high school, college, or your twenties and thirties—don’t get me started on that subject!,) it’s about a married couple in Norway, and ends with Nora, the wife, walking out on her husband and children, slamming the door behind her, which has, somehow, became an iconic moment in the pantheon of theatre. (A great line in this play is when the nanny wants Nora to leave, and says, “There’s the door. I know you know how to use it!” It drew a major laugh on opening night.) Ibsen based the play on a female writer friend of his, who was none too happy with him for doing so.

So now, in this new-ish Part 2, (which was written, and on Broadway, in 2017,) Nora is back, needing something from the husband she abandoned. And that’s all you need to know.

I understand that some people think of this as a feminist scenario. However, you are not a feminist if you leave your kids, especially for fifteen years—you’re an asshole! Actually, in today’s world, this whole tale is like one of the internet’s Am I The Asshole stories. And, in this case, I’d vote that you are!

But, to Nora’s credit, she has become a successful novelist under a pen name. My favorite line in the whole play is Nora’s children’s nanny asking her shockingly, “You make money from writing?!!!” Great question.

I also love that Nora says her work “is about me.” That’s the opposite of what mine is, (or at least what I say it is.) As I state in the title of this site, “It’s Not About Me!” (But the tagline underneath that title is, “But it really is,” which may be supported by the last few paragraphs in this article.)

And I took note of another line, which is a somewhat strange one for anyone to notice. At one point, Nora berates her husband by telling him, “You’re constipated,” which is such a weird put-down. But I have, surprisingly, heard it used as such once before in my life. When my young niece was having trouble with boys in her class being mean to her about her uber-curly hair, my very odd sister told her daughter to say that very thing to the offenders! I could not figure out what that even meant, let alone how it would stop them. Maybe it would, because they’d be doubled over in laughter at the sheer nonsense of that statement!!! And now, here were those very same two words in a play that takes place in 1912!!! What are the chances? (Maybe Lucas Hnath and I are actually related! Ancestry.com, here I come.)

All four actors in A Doll’s House, Part 2, (Jason Butler Harner, who is a dark-haired doppelgänger for the tall, beautifully-postured Conan O’Brien; Kimberly Scott; Kahyun Kim; and especially Elizabeth Reaser as Nora, who is never off the stage!,) give excellent performances. And the direction by Jennifer Chang is spot-on, as well. It’s not an easy task to orchestrate a story that’s basically all conversation with little movement.

There is one curious aspect of the staging, though. For an unexplained reason that some of us at the after-party could not figure-out, there are a few tiers of audience members seated on the back of the stage. I came up with that perhaps they’re supposed to be some kind of jury, but I don’t get that intention, either. [Note: I believe that you can purchase those seats for a good price, so check-out the info on the Playhouse site at the end of this review, if you’re interested in seeing the actors up-close and personal.]

As entertaining as it all is, A Doll’s House, Part 2 gets dramatic and gloomy in the last twenty minutes or so. The wrap-up is a tad confusing, and, for my friend and me, at least, unsatisfying. I felt like Hnath just got somewhat tired of writing and wanted to get to that dramatic very last second of the show. And, although it’s just about an hour and a half, the play is a little too long; I noticed a few audience members sort-of nodding off a bit.

Since the narrative is about a woman who leaves her marriage, and reveals that she’s actually against the institution, in general, the script cries out to get a dialogue going about the subject. So I’ll join in by sharing my own thoughts on the topic, which I kept reflecting on during the production.

Here goes: I have never believed in marriage. Yes, even though I’ve been in love with Mr. X for about a hundred years. People often assume that he is the one who won’t marry me, which is just nutty. But because I’m a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, they erroneously conclude that marriage and kids were my goals. I’m glad that at least the people who are aware that I was in a traveling circus when I was twenty, (among other crazy activities that turned my mother’s hair prematurely gray,) knew that I was a rebel from Day 1.

I’ll tell you the reasons that I don’t believe in marriage in a second, but before you think it, let me assure you that it definitely has nothing to do with my family. My parents were married for a zillion years, and outside of when they were actually in class teaching, they were together just about every second of every day of every week of every month of every year. (Of course they fought, though. As I mentioned, we’re Jewish people from Brooklyn; I don’t think there’s any other way for us to live!) And my older sister got married at just nineteen, (and is still going strong,) after she had already become a teacher! (She had skipped two grades and then did college in just three years, so she was a teacher at nineteen! I was considered the dumb one in the family because I skipped only one grade. But that’s a story for another time; today we’re talking about marriage.)

So here’s why I don’t believe in it: If we want to be together, we will; if we don’t want to, we won’t. It’s that simple. We don’t need a piece of paper to hold us in the situation. If anyone wants to get out, they can without having to go through a whole rigmarole. And I definitely don’t need some stranger to pronounce us “man and wife.” Who are they to pronounce us anything? It’s all up to us. People say to me, “Well, if you were going to have kids you’d get married, right?” And the answer is no. What does that even mean?  (But no worries—I told Mr. X that if he ever leaves me, I’ll take everything he owns! I may not believe in marriage, but I’m not an idiot.)

No matter your own feelings on the subject, I think everyone will find A Doll’s House, Part 2 interesting. Every production at the Pasadena Playhouse is a worthwhile one, so don’t miss out.

A Doll’s House, Part 2 running through June 8, 2025
Pasadena Playhouse 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena
626-356-7529 www.pasadenaplayhouse.org