This production of A Doll’s House is an adaptation from Henrik Ibsen’s book, first performed in 1879 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tanika Gupta’s version remains in the same year yet set in Calcutta. The leading lady, originally named Nora, is now a young Bengali woman, Niru (Anjana Vasan), married to an older Englishman, Tom (Elliot Cowan) who ‘worships and exoticises her’ (Gupta, 2019). A Doll’s House explores the relationship between Niru and Tom during the colonialism of India by the English. This determines the power dynamics between the couple and their friend, Dr Rank (Colin Tierney) in a bizarre way. Her husband is creepy and subtly controlling- quite disturbing to watch onstage. Meanwhile Niru battles the anxiety of her secret debts to Kaushik Das (Assad Zaman).
