A Doll's House - Playbill, 1897
Title
A Doll's House - Playbill, 1897
Date
13 September 1897
Description
Playbill advertising the visit of the Independent Theatre Company for three nights, performing Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House on Monday and Wednesday and 'an entirely original comedy', Candida, by George Bernard Shaw on Tuesday evening.
What's the story?
A Doll's House was the first play by the controversial Norwegian playwright to be produced in England, in 1889 - and that production starred Janet Achurch and Charles Charrington as Nora and Torvald Helmer. Despite a number of other Ibsen plays being produced in London in the following years, it was not until 1897 that A Doll's House toured to the provinces - by which time Achurch had famously played the part not just in London but, as the advertising for this tour noted, 'upwards of 200 Nights in America, India, Australasia, Egypt, &c.'
Touring in the UK was perhaps a more difficult prospect: in ‘The London Theatres’ report of 24 July 1897, The Era's reviewer of the 1987 production’s visit to The Grand Theatre, Islington noted that ‘To try Ibsen in Islington is a rather risky experiment, for suburban theatre-goers as a body fight shy of the Norwegian dramatist’s plays’. What then might the provincial audiences in Nottingham have made of them?
Touring in the UK was perhaps a more difficult prospect: in ‘The London Theatres’ report of 24 July 1897, The Era's reviewer of the 1987 production’s visit to The Grand Theatre, Islington noted that ‘To try Ibsen in Islington is a rather risky experiment, for suburban theatre-goers as a body fight shy of the Norwegian dramatist’s plays’. What then might the provincial audiences in Nottingham have made of them?
Type
Playbill
Location of item
Original held in Nottingham Local Studies Library; copy held at Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall.
Contributor
Researcher: Jo Robinson
