A Barbie’s House

We saw Thomas Ostermeier’s version of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” (in German!) last night. It’s part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival.

We were sort of surprised that they changed the play so much (thus the “Barbie House” reference above) until we saw this Times article about the show, which explains that everyone changes the ending:

. . . [T]here was Hans Neuenfels’s 1972 “Doll’s House” in Stuttgart, in which Nora climbed back into the house through a window after her triumphal exit. In Rudolf Noelte’s 1976 production in Berlin, Torvald was reduced to a drunken weakling who wasn’t worth the trouble of leaving. In 1990 a young and unknown East German named Leander Haussmann became an overnight star with a “Doll’s House” from Weimar that ended with a comically gymnastic fight between Nora and Torvald, replete with swinging kicks from a chandelier, after which the 19th-century period set revolved to reveal modern homeless people shivering in the cold. In Karin Henkel’s 1997 production in Vienna, the couple shut themselves out of the house together at the end, continuing their marital spat beyond the slammed door. And in Stefan Kimmig’s 2003 Hamburg production, no less modernized than Mr. Ostermeier’s, Nora didn’t leave home at all but rather climbed onto her roof balcony to chain-smoke.

Who knew?

As noted above, Berlin Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz production is “modernized,” which means that there is really crazy loud techno music and EVERYBODY SCREAMS A LOT. Oh, and the male characters can’t stop sticking their hands up Nora’s skirt. And — shocking! — Dr. Rank also loves men! (Instead of dying of syphilis, he’s suffering from what is probably AIDS.)

Beware that which is “crazy” or “outre,” for it is difficult to pull off. (In case you were wondering, Ivo van Hove’s version of Hedda Gabler at the New York Theatre Workshop was much better.)