Feminist classic A Doll's House gets a reboot

SERIOUS actresses dream of playing the role of Nora in the same way that serious actors dream of playing Hamlet. Few female roles are, in fact, as rich and full-bodied as Nora in Henrik Ibsen's classic play A Doll's House - the wife and mother who leaves her husband and children because she feels her life is a sham.

When A Doll's House was first staged in Copenhagen in 1879, it was hugely controversial because it showed a woman abandoning her family. In one German production, the actress playing Nora notoriously demanded that the ending be changed so that Nora stays with her family.

Today, however, the play is recognised as a pioneering feminist play, with Unesco's Memory of the World register describing Nora as "a symbol throughout the world, for women fighting for liberation and equality". In 2006, A Doll's House was recorded as being the most staged play around the globe.