THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Anya Reiss
Almeida Theatre, Almeida St, London N1 until May 23, 2026
Poor old Ibsen has got a bit of a battering of late with too many “after Ibsen” adaptations. Generally these have been embarrassing, so it was with a heavy heart that I approached this. I plumped for it however because of the track record of playwright Anya Reiss (who did a great Seagull) and one of our best directors Joe Hill-Gibbins.
Together they’ve produced the best modern adaptation of an Ibsen seen for many a year.
It manages to update the piece totally to the era of Insta and WhatsApp while being incredibly faithful to the plot and the spirit of the original. Key to its success is Romola Garai (Olivier winner last year for The Years) and one of our most underrated actors, who so totally inhabits the world of this modern-day Nora Helmer that she keeps us transfixed. There’s no vanity in the performance and Garai deftly illuminates the many contradictory aspects of Nora’s anxious, impulsive, personality. Her love for her careless and overbearing husband Torvald (Tom Mothersdale) has been the core of her existence, and in the end drives her into financial dealings that will (nearly) bring the cozy, affluent, life she shares with him crashing down. Garai is utterly heartbreaking when the penny finally drops about exactly whom she has married, prompting her decision to get out.
Hyemi Shin’s set locates the couple in their luxury, spacious, London pad, all exposed brickwork and giant plasma screens. Christmas is approaching and she’s just let loose on the Amex, so the floor is covered with dozens of shopping bags from the best stores. Reiss is great on the financial stuff and focuses very much on this world of excess and overspending. The famous antagonist here of course is the bitter and vengeful Nils Krogstad (James Corrigan), who got embroiled financially with Torvald, ended up in jail, and has now turned to blackmailing Nora. Corrigan is commanding as the resentful ex college friend who appears like a specter and gives us the other side of the Helmer’s story.
Also in the mix is Olivier Huband as Dr Rank, Nora’s best friend and hanger on, who here has terminal pancreatic cancer, and uses his last days to finally make his move on her. The love triangle between the two and Torvald is beautifully delineated in all its awkwardness. Mothersdale is a standout as the self-absorbed, alpha-male investment banker just about to close the sale on his company. In a neat and very timely twist his neck is saved by the fact that his buyer will benefit from the oil price shooting up, driven by the sudden outbreak of a war in Syria. It could have come straight off today’s news channels.
Hill-Gibbins’ direction is wonderful, riveting up the tension but also treading that careful tightrope between keeping the audience rapt while allowing us critical distance on these desperate, scheming, folk. Thalissa Teixeira completes the cast as Kristine an old friend down on her luck who also seeks employment from the Helmers. She too has a past and a grudge.
Reiss’s use of modern idioms and the cadence of modern speech render it totally contemporary as does her embrace in the script of iPhone messaging and electronic banking. It recalls TV’s Industry in many ways and, just like that, it’s a profoundly anti-capitalist text.
Reiss makes one misstep with it though, and it’s a major one (it is a classic so I’m not fretting here about ‘spoiler alerts’). As students of drama all know, Nora’s banging that door shut when she walks out on Torvald and children turned this play into a landmark of modern drama. Here Reiss brings ambiguity to this very crucial moment. I was as shocked as all those puritans were in the opposite direction when it was first staged in 1879. It undermines the character and the play and I’m still trying to figure out why.
That aside, and you can put it aside, this is a fantastic, urgent, vital, introduction to one of the masterpieces of modern theater.
