David Jones, a professor of English and drama at UNM, has a secret about the play that he's directing.
"A Doll's House" opens this Friday and in an interview with the Lobo, Jones revealed that he starts to worry when things run as smoothly as they have on this production.
When asked about the myths of the stage and the legendary problems encountered before showtime, Jones said the only problem was that the actors all showed up on time, the set was done ahead in advance and he worried about his lack of colorful anecdotes.
All joking aside, though, Jones said that he is working with one the most professional and talented senior classes for this production.
Kate Costello, who plays the lead role of Nora Helmer, has collaborated with Jones before in a summer production of play written by comedian Steve Martin. She regards "A Doll's House" as significantly different, as the extremely demanding character of Nora Helmer is onstage for almost the entire two hours of all three acts. Jones has nothing but praise for Costello taking on such a demanding role.
In "A Doll's House," written by Henrick Ibsen in 1879, Helmer is a late nineteenth-century woman who broke up her marriage by leaving her husband and children at Christmas time. For the UNM production, the setting has shifted to 1950s America.
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"[The 50's] were a time when women were viewed as very subjugated, before the modern wave of feminism had really taken root," Jones said. "We always see sitcoms set in this time period where the father is coming home from work with his briefcase and the mother is in the kitchen baking cookies for the children."
Appropriately enough, the set basically consists of a kitchen and related areas. Costello will actually bake cookies on-stage early in the production, before embarking on her journey to find her true self somewhere in the world. The play is a study of human liberation.
"For whatever reasons, people leave," Jones said. "'A Doll's House' is a great study of why that happens and what happens because of that."
Jones believes the themes of the play are still relevant and the abrupt departure of a significant other is something that many people in this day and age can relate to. He also notes that the play is ultimately about the death of love.
Jones recognizes an interconnectedness in the play - how closely the death of one thing, love, can be tied to the creation of another thing, like Nora Helmer's personal and mental liberation.
Near the end of the interview, Jones relaxed and let slip a few more secrets - a few problems on the set have occurred. He says that since the play is set during Christmas time, snow is an obvious must, but the crew is having a difficult time with it.
"And the cookies," he said, "Right now, we're working on the dough."
For such a heavy play, these hardly seem matters of consequence. But it's every little detail with Jones, something that is going to make this one of the best productions that UNM has seen in a long while.
"A Doll's House" opens Friday at the Rodey Theater. The show will run Sept. 27, 28 at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. and Oct. 3-5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the UNM Ticket Office at 277-4569 or visiting www.tickets.com.
