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-      Ibsen loves having strong female characters. Hedda and Nora both drive the narrative of both plays. Having open houses and a triangle element makes the home environment complicated. He looks at power through a female’s perspective and clearly establishes the socio-political context that constricts them. Both females seek an escape from their environment and eventually choose to leave their marriages and homes.

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Nora plays silly and bird-like whereas Hedda is cold and only animated when she needs to be.

They both know the power of their sexuality – but Hedda acts oblivious to her affect whereas Nora plays into it with her husband but oblivious with Mr Rank

Hedda needs power to enrich herself and protect her status whereas Nora only wanted to help her husband. Nora’s power is that she hides her sacrifice, she’s much more selfless than Hedda.

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I sympathize more with Nora as she always thought about others above herself and is a more accurate representation of the struggles of women. Hedda Gabler feels more like the fantasy that a woman like Nora would have, being able to be selfish and have power over all the men in your life then having the courage to kill yourself leaving behind everything.

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Both plays explore themes of

-      Marital struggles

-      Blackmail

-      Escapism

-      Pretence

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Torvald and Tesman are both workaholics and paternalistic , outwardly care for their wives but don’t know their wives true struggles.

BUT

Torvald is like Hedda in his assured and steely nature and his aversion to ugliness.

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Tesman is a laughable character and adds comedy to Hedda Gabler , Torvald seems to fit his wife in the beginning of the play , they compliment each other.

Tesman doesn’t show his scale of emotions he’s usually cheerful open but Torvald shows a wider range from sensual to anger and remorseful.

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I prefer Hedda Gabler because there’s more tension and scandal but I wish it had the dancing and more light and realistic that were in a dolls house.

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-They're both childlike but Nora is silly but Hedda is vindictive
- Like their fathers
-They're both able to dig into lives to get information
-They both have a love of power and experience it vicariously through men
- Both in a triangle of sorts

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I prefer Hedda Gabler because I feel that the characters are a bit more multi-dimensional, and as a result the story has more resonance in the modern day. Torvald seems to me from the start to be a cynical misogynist, and so the deterioration of his and Nora's marriage seems obvious to me. While Hedda and Tesman's marriage also seems doomed, the specific nature of her downfall is less predictable, because Hedda herself is more complex and difficult to understand; furthermore, she is antagonised not by specific people but by her entire society.

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I prefer Hedda Gabler because I feel that the characters are a bit more multi-dimensional, and as a result the story has more resonance in the modern day. Torvald seems to me from the start to be a cynical misogynist, and so the deterioration of his and Nora's marriage seems obvious to me. While Hedda and Tesman's marriage also seems doomed, the specific nature of her downfall is less predictable, because Hedda herself is more complex and difficult to understand; furthermore, she is antagonised not by specific people but by her entire society.

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Both Hedda and Nora delight in minor scandals (Nora's sweets, the way she acts when first telling Christine about the loan, flirting with Rank; Hedda's delight in Eilert's stories)

They both enjoy having power over others; Hedda knows this about herself from early on, but Nora doesn't realise this pattern in her relationships with her children and her friends until the end of the play

They are both rather materialistic: Hedda pressures Tesman to buy lots of new things, while the metaphor of the doll's house clearly paints Nora as obsessed with new toys. However while Nora is materialistic, she is not entirely selfish, as much of what she buys is for her family and not herself; she is also much more thrifty, as she is able to save money to pay off her debts while buying conspicuously so as not raise suspicion.

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While Tesman is optimistic to the point of naivety, Torvald is deeply cynical

Torvald assumes much greater control over his household: he is extremely controlling over Nora, to an uncomfortable degree

Torvald is much more romantically interested in his Nora than Tesman is in Hedda

Torvald also seems to have a much more genuine love for Nora than Tesman's for Hedda, although as is shown in the play, this love is built on weak foundations

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Both treat their wives more like ornaments than people

While Tesman is more devoted to his actual work, they are both devoted to maintaining their reputation

Despite Torvald's cynical, domineering personality, he is often just as out of the loop as Tesman: he fails to recognise Nora's unhappiness, and is not privy to her eventful conversations with Rank

They both unwittingly allow figures close to them (Korgstad and Brack, Rank and Eilert) to, respectively, manipulate and be manipulated by their wives.

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The main two themes both plays explore are the burden of keeping a reputation and the oppression of women in the home; both plays are particularly interested in how these things relate to (and constrain) a sense of personal identity, as the pressure to conform prevents both Hedda and Nora from realising their true selves.

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I sympathise more with Hedda, because her issues seem almost inevitable. From a modern perspective at least, I think it is fairly clear that Nora and Torvald's relationship is toxic, and if they were real people, I would wonder how they had lasted 9 years of marriage without ever realising how weak the foundations of their relationship were. Hedda meanwhile, is constrained by circumstances largely outside of her control (her father's death forces her to find a husband) and the expectations of a society she has disdain for, but cannot bear to live outside of as Eilert and Thea do.

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I sympathise more with Hedda, because her issues seem almost inevitable. From a modern perspective at least, I think it is fairly clear that Nora and Torvald's relationship is toxic, and if they were real people, I would wonder how they had lasted 9 years of marriage without ever realising how weak the foundations of their relationship were. Hedda meanwhile, is constrained by circumstances largely outside of her control (her father's death forces her to find a husband) and the expectations of a society she has disdain for, but cannot bear to live outside of as Eilert and Thea do.

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Nora seems to be much more selfless: throughout the play she is obsessed with providing for and protecting the reputations of her husband and children, at the expense of her own personal development. Conversely, Hedda makes a show of rejecting familial obligations

Nora is (at least at first) a deeply devoted mother, whereas Hedda despises the idea of motherhood; but Nora does seem to treat her children as playthings in a similar way to the way Hedda treats Eilert and Thea as amusement - although Nora is not aware that she is doing this, and does not do it maliciously. Nora also manipulates Dr. Rank in a similar way to Hedda's manipulation of Eilert.

At least in Morahan's performance, Nora is possessed of a playful, erratic, nervous energy, seeming as though she might unravel at any moment. Hedda may be unpredictable, but she appears to have a greater degree of control over her outward disposition at least, and rarely ever shows clear signs of nervousness, even up to the point where she kills herself.

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Ibsen's plays seem to have a similar structure to Greek tragedies: a character suffers a fall from grace after figures/events from their past return to haunt them (other similarities are a short timespan of roughly a day, and the fact that both take place in one room).

Unlike traditional Greek tragic heroes, Ibsen's protagonists are not quite nobles, but occupy a precarious social position somewhere among the bourgeoisie - but both Hedda and Nora do both initally anticipate upward social mobility because of their husband's promotions.

The common theme in both plays seems to me to be women struggling to deal with a lack of control: Hedda is constrained by society's expectations, while Nora is more directly constrained by Korgstad's threats and by Torvald's overbearing influence. Both women rebel against this control, both in small ways (Hedda's micro-aggressions, Nora's sweets) and much larger ones (Hedda's manipulation of Eilert, Nora's manipulation of Rank, Hedda's suicide, Nora leaving at the end of the play etc.)

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As Sheridan Smith prepares to take on the role of Hedda Gabler, two actresses in Ibsen plays opening this week reflect on the enduring power of his female characters.

"I think I'm a human being before anything else."

So says Nora Helmer in A Doll's House, a play that scandalised audiences when it premiered in 1879 with its take on marriage and motherhood.

More than 100 years after his death, Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) continues to be one of the world's most performed dramatists.

Last year, there were 166 Ibsen productions around the world , with his masterpiece, A Doll's House, the most performed play.

This week is a bumper one for UK fans of the Norwegian dramatist.

A Doll's House has just opened at the Young Vic, along with Hedda Gabler at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton.

Elsewhere in London, the lesser-known St John's Night gets its UK premiere at the Jermyn Street Theatre.

For Hattie Morahan, her role as Nora in A Doll's House is a chance to revisit a character she first encountered in the classroom.

"Nora is an extraordinary cocktail," says the actress after the play's opening night on Monday.

"We did the play at school. I'd seen a couple of versions, but that was with an 18-year-old's head on - so now I'm coming to it with a bit more life experience."

Nora is an extraordinary cocktail
Hattie Morahan on the character of Nora Helmer

The wait appears to have been worth it, with The Guardian's critic stating: "This is a bravura performance that elevates Morahan to the front rank of British actors."

The play (this version is by Simon Stephens) is set in Norway in 1878.

Nora's life seems ideal, with three children, an elegant home and an adoring husband, Torvald (Dominic Rowan).

But Nora has taken out a secret loan to help her husband recover from an illness, and when the truth emerges the faultlines in their marriage crack wide open.

"It's a painful portrayal of two people who have fallen into a dishonest dynamic," says Morahan.

"After nine years of marriage they have a crisis, and I think that will always remain very pertinent and uncomfortable for audiences."

What still startles modern audiences is the play's apparently feminist message.

"It was radical for its time," says Morahan. "But the more you get under its skin, you realise how impeccably constructed it is and how its psychology runs so deep."

Morahan has had some advice on how to tackle the role from her mother, Juliet Bravo actress Anna Carteret, who played Nora in the 1980s.

"She told me to enjoy all the different facets of Nora's personality," Morahan says. "And honour the fact that she's mercurial and is capable of being 10 different things to 10 different people."

'Magnificently real'

Another of Ibsen's protagonists - Hedda Gabler - is often cited as one of the greatest female dramatic roles in theatre.

Sheridan Smith will play Hedda at the Old Vic in September in an adaptation by Brian Friel.

While the Olivier award-winning actress begins her preparations, a new version of Hedda Gabler opened in Northampton this week, with Emma Hamilton in the title role.

The play, which premiered in 1891, sees the newly married Hedda stifled by the reality of her new life in a comfortable home with a husband she does not love.

"She's a character that doesn't quite understand herself," says Hamilton.

"Ibsen's written a magnificently real woman. She's a three-dimensional, living, breathing, passionate, intelligent, hungry, driven woman.

"Trying to get inside her and bring her to life - that's the challenge."

She's a character that doesn't quite understand herself
Emma Hamilton on Hedda Gabler

Hamilton feels the play remains "incredibly relevant" because of the expectations that Hedda faces as a married woman.

"The rules are very different even today for women than they are for men, in terms of what constitutes acceptable behaviour."

Hamilton first came across Hedda Gabler when she was a teenager and saw Eve Best's celebrated portrayal at London's Almeida Theatre in 2005.

"The thing about Hedda is that even if you see another production, it's not something that can inform your performance too much because it's such a personal exploration.

"If you're being truthful and building character from within, then you're always going to end up with a fairly unique woman at the end of it."

The current popularity of Ibsen in the UK is not in doubt.

The UK premiere of early Ibsen work St John's Night in London this week follows last year's Emperor and Galilean at the National Theatre.

That play was being staged for the first time in the UK, with Sherlock star Andrew Scott among a cast of 50.

There is more Ibsen on offer too, with another version of A Doll's House running at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake until November.

And Scottish Opera's The Lady from the Sea has its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in August.
A Doll's House is at the Young Vic, London until 28 July. Hedda Gabler is at the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton until 28 July. Hedda Gabler, with Sheridan Smith, will open at the Old Vic on 12 September, with previews from 5 September.

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As Sheridan Smith prepares to take on the role of Hedda Gabler, two actresses in Ibsen plays opening this week reflect on the enduring power of his female characters. "I think I'm a human being before anything else."

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Read this article to trigger your thoughts....

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Compared to the dramas in Ibsen's 1890 play Hedda Gabler - alcohol abuse, sexual blackmail, destroyed works of art, unwanted pregnancies, suicide, etc - the decidedly quieter thread of defiance in his earlier play A Doll's House, may, initially, appear a little underwhelming.

Were the heroines of the two plays somehow able to appear on the same stage together, Nora Helmer wouldn't last five minutes against Hedda Gabler before being sent scampering into the wings with boxed ears. Hedda is a woman who spends the entire length of her play systematically destroying lives; Nora, to a fault, is hopelessly devoted to protecting her husband Torvald from any hint of scandal. That said, the two characters do share a number of striking similarities. Both are attractive young wives, brought up by domineering fathers, and held back from realising their full potential by bourgeois conventions.

But where Hedda is cold and calculating, Nora is frivolous and naive. Where Hedda bristles with rage at her wifely responsibilities, Nora is more than happy to slip into the role of her husband's little "squirrel", "spendthrift" or "squanderbird". Where Hedda has a pair of her father's pistols to fool around with (yes, both go off by the final curtain), Nora has her children to play hide-and-seek with - and a bag of macaroons to surreptitiously scoff. Crucially, though, both women keep secrets from their husbands. And it is the revelation of Nora's big secret that leads to her climactic act of defiance - an act just as shocking and, arguably, even more affecting than that of Hedda's.

First published in 1879, A Doll's House opens with Torvald and Nora emerging from an extended period of financial trouble. It is Christmas, and Torvald has recently become manager of the local bank. Some years earlier, Torvald suffered a breakdown, and was prescribed with a recuperative holiday paid for by Nora - ostensibly with money from her dying father. However, it is soon revealed that Nora really borrowed the money behind Torvald's back - and worse, the person she borrowed from will now be one of her husband's employees. Worse still, said employee knows that Nora forged her dead father's signature to secure the loan. With the revelation of her secret looming, Nora lives in nervous expectation of "a miracle" that will save her marriage from destruction - namely, that when her secret is revealed and she threatens to commit suicide to save her husband's honour, Torvald will do the right thing and save her by taking full responsibility for her crime.

Suicide is the dark thread that runs throughout both A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, albeit tempered somewhat by the unconvincing refrain that "one just doesn't do that sort of thing!" But while Hedda takes her own life, Nora's grand act of defiance sees her abandoning a life but not leaving it altogether. She realises that a "great wrong" has been done to her by the men in her life: she has only ever been a daughter, a wife and a mother, but never truly herself. This epiphany will have drastic repercussions for her husband and children.

It is perhaps no accident that Ibsen chose to set A Doll's House over Christmas: a period of excess and laxity, after which, as the new year dawns, one turns one's thoughts to sober reflection and self-improvement. As Nora herself is finally able to articulate:

I believe that I am first and foremost a human being ... or, anyway, that I must try to become one ... I'm no longer prepared to accept what people say and what's written in books. I must think things out for myself and try to find my own answer.

Ultimately, A Doll's House offers no easy answers. Rather, it tells of the difficult, and yes, defiant, choices one must make before one is able to start asking questions.
Topics

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A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen: a hard search for a new self

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Compared to the dramas in Ibsen's 1890 play Hedda Gabler - alcohol abuse, sexual blackmail, destroyed works of art, unwanted pregnancies, suicide, etc - the decidedly quieter thread of defiance in his earlier play A Doll's House, may, initially, appear a little underwhelming.

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How would you define Ibsen's style as a writer? What key features can you find in both plays?

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3                                            Who do you sympathise more with, Hedda or Nora, why?          

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3                                            Who do you sympathise more with, Hedda or Nora, why?          

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4                                           What themes do both plays explore?                    

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4                                           What themes do both plays explore?                    

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8                                         Which play do you prefer, why? 

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8                                         Which play do you prefer, why? 

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5                                           What similarities can you draw between Torvald and Tesman?      

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5                                           What similarities can you draw between Torvald and Tesman?      

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What are the main differences between Tesman and Torvald?

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2                                            What are the main differences between Hedda and Nora? 

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2                                            What are the main differences between Hedda and Nora? 

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7                                           What are the similarities between Hedda and Nora? 

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7                                           What are the similarities between Hedda and Nora? 