Ibsen’s 1879 play ‘A Doll’s House’ ended with Nora Helmer leaving her husband and children and slamming the door behind her. Lucas Hnath now picks up the story 15 years later and provides his perspective on what happened to Nora in the meantime.

Hnath tells us in the programme that he wanted to explore the problems that Ibsen was addressing when he wrote the play, which in his view don’t seem to have evolved from where they were over 100 years ago. He identifies the events in the original play as progressive and revolutionary and suggests that they still remain so.

And so this show begins with a knock at the same door that Nora (Laura Hill) shut 15 years previously. This moment is staged effectively on an evocatively simple set designed by John Parker with lighting by Jane Hakaraia, presenting Nora as a mysterious and unsettling figure.

Welcomed in by former nanny Anne-Marie (Maya Dalziel), Nora returns to the home that used to be hers and finds many things have changed. Anne-Marie bluntly informs her that anything that was hers was thrown out, raising laughter and/or recognition in the audience. 

This first section sets the scene well, giving Nora the chance to explain what she has been doing since she left. The scene is structured as a two-character conversation (as are most of the following scenes) and all of these conversations give the characters opportunities to revisit aspects of the original play, or answer questions that they raised. 

Nora asks Anne-Marie to guess how she has become successful, enjoying the chance to refute a range of guesses that stay close to what might be ‘appropriate’ for a woman at that time.  And this is where I find the play something of a challenge.

Hnath is working in the same time period as the original, but the language is much more modern. Sometimes this creates a kind of dissonance for me, as viewpoints and arguments are unraveled that seem to exist somewhere between 1879 and today. The dialogue is witty and fast paced and there is a lot of it.

There is some plot: Nora returns seeking assistance from Torvald (Stephen Butterworth); both Nora and Torvald attempt to avoid consequences for their actions; their grown-up daughter Emmy (Danyelle Mealings) is about to be married, but these events are not what drive the play.

Instead, the discussions around views of marriage and relationships and freedom and perhaps selfishness, drive the characters through the 90-minute running time. Perhaps these conversations answer some of the questions raised at the end of Ibsen’s play – what happens to Nora? Would she ever come back? How would those she left behind react if she did? Does she achieve what she hoped for?

There are answers to many of these questions in the play, uncovered through discussions with those she left behind. Some of the discussions are thought-provoking and very modern, (including some very funny and unexpected expletives from Anne-Marie) but it is not character that drives the drama and very little actually changes for anyone.

There are some wonderfully realised performances in this production. Stephen Butterworth brings depth and nuance to Torvald’s responses to seeing Nora again. His ability to suggest the depth of his feelings so subtly raises the stakes in his first conversation with Nora, and when he returns later with what she has asked him for, we feel great sympathy for him.

As Nora’s daughter, Danyelle Mealings brings a brisk and witty energy to the role, telling Nora some home truths that make her consider her actions in a different light. She stands her ground admirably and delivers a perspective that is very different to the one that Nora expects.

As Nora, Laura Hill is on stage throughout the entire play, and she shoulders the majority of the dialogue. She runs a huge gamut of responses and emotions, able to turn from pleasant reminiscing to coldly demanding with great speed. There are moments of silence and suppressed emotion that are truly affecting as she appears trapped by being back in the house that she really just wants to leave again. When she finally does so, it is on her own terms, leaving Torvald and the audience with more questions.

Director Paul Gittins enables his cast to intrigue and challenge their audience in a play that doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. As witty and vigorous as the discussions in the play are, for me they don’t add much to Ibsen’s original play, leaving me feeling like an opportunity has been missed to expand on ideas that were originally perceived as so controversial. And perhaps that is the point – circumstances explored in the original play have not changed enough – yet.

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