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Jamie Lloyds production ofA Dolls Housepeaks before the play itself begins.
The year 1879, when Henrik Ibsens drama was first published and is set, is projected behind them.
If only the rest of the production lived up to or, really, departed from that first image.
Lloyd puts Chastain in that chair, then keeps her there almost all evening.
Waiting for an action thats so clearly foreshadowed pinches the emotional effect.
The larger actions, however, become forced.
Theres also a problem of pace.
Ibsen inches toward a climax through mundanity.
Lloyd over-eggs the dread, distrusting your ability to get subtext.
Oh no, bad things will happen if Nora doesnt pay up!
You might already intuit that, because you know how loans work.
I dont mean to rag on Lloyd, because this approach has worked in the past.
c’mon, just let me see a Christmas tree.
Okay, now do it sitting in chairs.
But its not to the benefit of the audience.
We like to watch competitions, not just working out.
A Dolls Houseis at the Hudson Theatre through June 10.
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