Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in Donmar Warehouse, London

by Hanna

Before I tell you something (though Malwi insists on much) about the whole play let me introduce you to the most magical theatre I have ever been to.
Donmar Warehouse located in the heart of London's West End. Can seat 250 people and is UK's leading producing theatres. These are some facts.

The sign on the building telling you "destination reached"

What you feel when you actually enter it cannot be described in words. The feeling is magical. It is so small inside that it gives the feeling of intimacy and direct contact with the actors on stage. ( and yes it is possible to touch the actor when you are seated in the first row. But never do it. Need to admit that our knees hurt a bit after seating there because of the lack of space between the seat and the stage).

This is how the theatre looks inside. Pretty small, huh? But so great. Utter perfection. The best seat I had was first row on the right as you are looking at the photo. One of the actors was articulating his lines in such a manner his saliva landed on some folks. (no, not me.). The actor was Christopher Eccleston (Dr Who number 9)
Mmm... maybe I should also tell you (and this! you won't find this in tourist guides) a bit about DW's bodyguard or manager was he? Anyway, very unpleasant guy. Disliked fans (even these well-behaved!), closed the door in front of their faces during stage door. Yeah, such people unfortunately also live on this planet :/ We baptised him "furry".

And if your next question is whether we checked the seats upstairs then the answer is - yes, we did. The view is amazing from there. Actually there is a funny story coming. During the first time we went to see the play we sat upstairs. Our friend, Em together with Malwi brought the actual book written by Ibsen to the play and they were checking the lines as Gillian was speaking. They were turning the pages, checking and decided she missed some lines, changed them or some of them she did not even say. I think both Malwi and Em were too loud in their activity. Some people from downstairs were giving them strange looks.

Back in 2008 the world of the X Files learnt the news that Gillian Anderson (from now on I'll be referring to her as GA, to much writing) will be the playing the lead character in Ibsen's A Doll's House. You have no idea (or maybe you do, I know some of our friends got to see her there as well) how great it felt being able to get the opportunity to see her on stage. And so we waited for any additional information to be released as to "when & where can we buy the freakin' tickets". Our Polish fan forum was well organised and we decided to attend as a group - go there together, sightsee London. After my X Files movie premiere review they were all very eager to attend such an event. All X-philes all over the world (literally! We met one girl who flew in from Australia just for a day (ONE DAY!!!) to see the play) were ready to attack the website with tickets. We had already checked the seating plan hundreds of times, searched through different theatre forums reading people's remarks about a particular seat - whether the view was good, etc. All very well planned logistically, I would say. I also remember that the tickets were supposed to be sold at a different time than they actually started selling them and me, the head of purchase departament, I was at work! Such a fail! However, upon arriving home I managed to get great seats for four different days. 

Day 1 - Circle. However the luckiest seat was A3 stalls. So whenever you will get the chance to visit DW pick that one. I still have the tickets! Safe & sound in a special magic box ;)

It was around November when we purchased the tickets and the play was the next June. HA! So many months to prepare the flights, etc. So let's just skip all these months that dragged mercilessly.

And we are in June 2009. London again. Beautiful city at this time of year. 

So as you know during the first time we say the play we sat upstair and saw everything from the bird's view. All was so great - the stage, the seating, the decoration, the actors, GA!!! FTW. As I recall well, GA was the first who entered the stage. She came right from the audience. If you just took a look at the first photo of this post. Yes, that one. As you see the stage is how GA saw it when she entered it in the first act. 

This is how the stage looked form upstairs. (photo not taken by us)

One day we came earlier and there was nobody seated yet. Em decided to go on stage and had this photo taken by Malwi. When the furry guy saw this he wanted to throw Malwi out of the theatre. LOL. I think she told him she did not understand any English. 

In short I will write you about the play. What we saw was a rewritten version of Ibsen's orignal. The story is placed in London and the names were also changed. A Doll's House is a story of a woman called Nora (GA), a married woman with two children. Her husband, Thomas has just become vice president of a bank. However, thins were not always so bright for her. Back in the past Thomas was ill and needed to go to southern Europe to recover. Nora took a loan from his friend, Kelman who worked in Thomas's bank. However, she forged her dying father's signature putting him as the loan's guarantor. For years Nora managed to pay the installments and all seemed fine until her friend, Mrs. Lyle, arrives one day asking Nora for a job in Thomas's bank. Mrs. Lyle can get this job, actually she can get Kelman 's job and he will loose his. Kelman  threatens Nora telling her that  Thomas  will learn about the forged signature. She is sure, however, that her husband will protect her when he learns the truth. How wrong she is!  Thomas is furious and has no intention of protecting his wife. In the meantime Kelman  withdraws from his plan. Nora already sees her marriage is not what she wanted and...

Well I guess you need to read it in order to learn what happened. The whole story is very interesting and you simply take the journey with Nora through her ups and downs.

A great applause should be given to the actors who put their hearts into the play. Let me introduce you to (from the left): Tara Fitzgerald (Mrs. Lyle), Maggie Wells (Annie, Nora's maid), Gillian Anderson (Nora), Toby Stephens (Thomas), Anton Lesser (Dr Rank), Christopher Eccleston (Kelman). (photo source: gilliananderson.ws) 

Photos from rehearsals. The first one I took myself from a the play's leaflet. 

The leaflet itself looks like this (still have it at home): 

Rehearsal time: GA & Toby Stephens

Photos from the play, found randomly online. All the actors were magnificent in their roles. GA, however, was ravishing. If you expected to see Scully here, you were so wrong in your judgement. 

GA with actors who played Nora's kids:  William Nye and Abby Negus. I recall them as very talented children.

This photo shows you the very begining of the first act. Nora walks onto the stage.

Christopher Eccleston and GA - "I want my money back"

GA. so many dresses and hairdos.

You will find more photos here: CLICK 

And more photos and videos here: CLICK

Nora has one enormous weakness - macaroons. Wherever she goes, she carries a tiny bag with her with macaroons. We even noticed Gillian pretending not to eat them on stage. She must have had enough of their sweetness and just pretended swallowing. I think the marshamallows she was given were just too sweet to eat every day in large quantities.

The whole cast, and I will reapeat myself, was truly amazing. Top acting. I would love to see it again though it is not possible. 

Oh, I have just been reminded that Malwi and our friends went the 5th time to see the play. I did not. I headed to visit my friends in other part of the city. The 5th time was the second in one day. No seats were available at that time and they had standing places. upstairs. 

pssst: I am really sorry to finish this post like this. I blame REM. Will be back tomorrow with part 2. Stories behind the scenes or rather behind the curtain and stage door memoirs! stay tuned.