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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Reported wrong way driver causes I-5 crash ... North Medford grad takes film to two festivals ... Former Congressman won't be charged in pedestrian death ... Reported wrong way driver causes I-5 crash ... North Medford grad takes film to two festivals ... Former Congressman won't be charged in pedestrian death ... THEATER REVIEW Review: Blakeslee's Nora shines in Theatre Convivio's 'A Doll House' Blakeslee's Nora shines in Theatre Convivio's 'A Doll House' Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 12:08 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 12:08 PM » Social News “A Doll House” is a pivotal play in the history of the theater. In a single stroke in 1879, Henrik Ibsen depicted the hypocrisy of middle-class marriage in the Victorian age, brought the debate over the status of women front and center, and created the realistic “problem play” that would supplant the melodramatic, romantic theater of the day. With all the history the much-produced drama carries, it’s easy to forget that it’s also a riveting piece on the stage, as a lucid production that opened Thursday night at Theatre Convivio in Ashland demonstrated. Directed by Brady Rubin and buoyed by a nuanced performance by Christina Saia Blakeslee as Nora Helmer, the production is a respectful period take that hews close to Ibsen’s drama and eschews any directorial shenanigans. Nora, the lively wife of banker Torvald (Richard Heller), borrowed a large sum of money, which women were not legally allowed to do in 1879, forging the signature of her farther so that she and Torvald could travel to Italy for his health. In other words, she defied both the patriarchy and the law — risking disgrace and ruin — to follow her conscience and save the life of her husband. Heller’s Torvald is a portrait of the insufferable bourgeois. His life revolves around the bank where he’s getting a big promotion. He seems to have no interest in his children. He treats Nora as an ornament or plaything, his “little squirrel,” “little songbird,” “little featherhead.” In short, a doll (the play’s title is often translated as “A Doll’s House,” but we’ll skip the intricacies of that debate here). Nora pretends to exult in her perfect life. But Blakeslee’s coyness and manipulativeness and Heller’s suffocating paternalism show us the real status quo of the marriage before a couple of unexpected visits change everything. Kristine (Lia Rose Dugal), an old friend of Nora’s now a widow, shows up desperately seeking Nora’s help in getting Torvald to give her a job. Krogstad (Michael K. Hovermale), who is about to be laid off from his bank job by Torvald, shows up threatening to reveal to Torvald that Nora borrowed the money from him after forging her father’s signature. Just like that, this tale of an apparently blissful little Victorian home plunges into themes of blackmail, poverty, the status of women, social and economic desperation, living a structure of lies and the specter of ruin and suicide. Blakeslee’s complex Nora is not an altogether sympathetic character. She flounces around in a fancy dress, playing the role of a charming but submissive airhead while cadging money for loan payments from Torvald but keeping him in the dark. Nor is she straightforward in her dealings with Kristine or Krogstad. In fact, there’s not an entirely sympathetic character here. Everybody is trapped in a house of lies in which everything is distorted, creating the sense of an impending breaking point in which truth will out. Nora’s arc from what a later playwright would call mendacity to the truth is the play’s through line. And by the time she delivers her climactic speech in the long, final scene, Blakeslee has re-made her into a woman whose voice resonates across the centuries. Heller’s icy self-delusion is an effective foil for the machinations of his wife, although when he lashes out at Nora — shortly before one of the most famous sound effects in all theater — his shouting seems out of character. Chani Hubbell’s period costumes look as if they were inspired by the original Danish production, although they're not shown off to best advantage because of the somewhat dim stage lighting. The faithfulness of this production leaves one with renewed appreciation for the formidable craftsmanship of Ibsen, who’d already had a long career when he unaccountably rose to new heights with this play. The opening night performance was marred by off-stage distractions. People could be heard talking in the ticket area of the theater’s home in the Bellview Grange in Ashland well into the first act, and people walked around the room behind the audience and even opened and closed doors during the performance. "A Doll House" runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, with matinees at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays, through March 26 at the grange, 1050 Tolman Creek Road, Ashland. Tickets are $12.50 and available at http://adollhouse.ticketleap.com/a-doll-house/ and at the door. Bill Varble is a freelance writer living in Medford. Reach him at varble.bill @gmail.com. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 12:08 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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