So even though I\u2019m not a fan of very old classic plays, such as Ibsen\u2019s A Doll\u2019s House<\/em>, (written in 1879,) I decided to take a chance on Hnath\u2019s unofficial sequel to it, A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em>, playing now at the Pasadena Playhouse.<\/p>\n And I was pleasantly surprised to find\u2026a comedy! It\u2019s mainly very amusing. The opening night audience seemed to get every bit of the humor.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Reaser and Kimberly Scott. Photo by J Lorch, as is the one at the top of this review.<\/p><\/div>\n The play picks-up the original tale fifteen years hence. (See? I<\/em>\u00a0know old-timey jargon, as well.) In case you\u2019re not familiar with Ibsen\u2019s A Doll\u2019s House<\/em>, (which I\u2019m sure is most<\/em>\u00a0of you\u2014at least the ones who didn\u2019t 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\u2014don\u2019t get me started on that<\/em> subject!,) it\u2019s 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\u00a0<\/em>play is when the nanny wants Nora to leave, and says, \u201cThere’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.<\/p>\n So now, in this new-ish Part 2<\/em>, (which was written, and on Broadway, in 2017,) Nora is back, needing something from the husband she abandoned. And that\u2019s all you need to know.<\/p>\n I understand that some people think of this as a feminist scenario. However, you are not<\/em>\u00a0a feminist if you leave your kids, especially for fifteen years\u2014you’re an asshole! Actually, in today\u2019s world, this whole tale is like one of the internet\u2019s Am I The Asshole<\/em>\u00a0stories. And, in this case, I\u2019d vote that you are<\/em>!<\/p>\n But, to Nora\u2019s credit, she has become a successful novelist under a pen name. My favorite line in the whole play is Nora\u2019s children\u2019s nanny asking her shockingly, \u201cYou make money from writing<\/em>?!!!” Great question.<\/p>\n I also love that Nora says her work “is about me.” That’s the opposite of what mine<\/em> is, (or at least what I say<\/em> it is.) As I state in the title of this site, \u201cIt\u2019s Not<\/em> About Me!\u201d (But\u00a0the tagline underneath that title is, “But it really is,” which may be supported by the last few paragraphs in this article.)<\/p>\n Jason Butler Harner. Photo by J Lorch.<\/p><\/div>\n 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, \u201cYou’re constipated,\u201d 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\u2019d 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.)<\/p>\n All four actors in A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em>, (Jason Butler Harner, who is a dark-haired doppelg\u00e4nger for the tall, beautifully-postured Conan O\u2019Brien; 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\u2019s not an easy task to orchestrate a story that\u2019s basically all conversation with little movement.<\/p>\n There is<\/em> 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\u2019re supposed to be some kind of jury, but I don\u2019t get that<\/em> 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\u2019re interested in seeing the actors up-close and personal.]<\/p>\n Elizabeth Reaser and Jason Butler Harner. Photo by J Lorch.<\/p><\/div>\n As entertaining as it all is, A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em> gets dramatic and gloomy in the last twenty minutes or so.\u00a0The 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Since the narrative is about a woman who leaves her marriage, and reveals that she\u2019s actually against the institution, in general,\u00a0the script cries out to get a dialogue going about the subject. So I\u2019ll join in by sharing my own thoughts on the topic, which I kept reflecting on during the production.<\/p>\n Kahyun Kim. Photo by J Lorch.<\/p><\/div>\n Here goes: I have never believed in marriage. Yes, even though I\u2019ve been in love with Mr. X for about a hundred years. People often assume\u00a0that he<\/em>\u00a0is the one who won\u2019t marry me,<\/em> which is just\u00a0nutty. But because I\u2019m a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, they erroneously conclude\u00a0that marriage and kids were my goals. I\u2019m glad\u00a0that 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\u2019s hair prematurely gray,) knew that I was a rebel from Day 1.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll tell you the reasons that I don\u2019t 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\u2019re Jewish people from Brooklyn; I don\u2019t think there\u2019s 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<\/em>\u00a0grades and then did college in just three years, so she was a teacher at nineteen! I<\/em>\u00a0was considered the dumb one in the family because I skipped only one<\/em>\u00a0grade. But that\u2019s a story for another time; today we\u2019re talking about marriage<\/em>.)<\/p>\n So here\u2019s why I don\u2019t believe in it: If we want to be together, we will; if we don’t want to, we won\u2019t. 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 \u201cman and wife.\u201d Who are they to pronounce us anything<\/em>? It’s all up to us. People say to me, \u201cWell, if you were going to have kids you’d get married, right?\u201d And the answer is no. What does that even mean?\u00a0 (But no worries\u2014I told Mr. X that if he ever leaves me, I\u2019ll take everything he owns! I may not believe in marriage, but I\u2019m not an idiot<\/em>.)<\/p>\n No matter your own<\/em> feelings on the subject, I think everyone will find A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em> interesting. Every<\/em> production at the Pasadena Playhouse is a worthwhile one, so don\u2019t miss out.<\/p>\n A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em>\u00a0running through June 8, 2025<\/strong> A DOLL\u2019S HOUSE, PART 2 After seeing playwright Lucas Hnath\u2019s fascinating Dana H.\u00a0at the Douglas six years ago, I decided that I\u2019d be happy to see anything\u00a0he writes. (Although he didn\u2019t really write\u00a0that show\u2014he more conceived\u00a0it. I explain it all in my review of that unique presentation, which you can read right here: itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/theatre-dana-h.) So<\/p>\n![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ADOLLSHOUSEPART2_Elizabeth-Reaser-and-Kimberly-Scott_Photos-by-J-Lorch-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ADOLLSHOUSEPART2_Jason-Butler-Harner_Photos-by-J-Lorch-e1747859897423-253x300.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ADOLLSHOUSEPART2_Elizabeth-Reaser-and-Jason-Butler-Harner_Photos-by-J-Lorch-e1747859509704-1024x741.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Kahyun](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ADOLLSHOUSEPART2_Kahyun-Kim_Photos-by-J-Lorch-e1747859565207-224x300.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n Pasadena Playhouse 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena<\/strong>
\n 626-356-7529 www.pasadenaplayhouse.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"