Mapping the Early Noras

Abstract

Maps showing this first wave of globalisation of the play are the distant visions that structure this chapter; the patterns on these maps challenge conventional narratives of Ibsen’s career by revealing an early commercial history of his most popular play. Twenty-two Noras were responsible for spreading the play around the world; this chapter follows their journeys to Asia, Australasia, and the Americas, and examines the critical reception of their performances. To understand why these actresses devoted so much of their creative energy to the international dissemination of this play, the lives of eight significant world Noras are considered: Alla Nazimova, Matsui Sumako, Gabriela Zapolska, Janet Achurch, Eleonora Duse, Eleanor Marx, Lin Ping, and Olga Chekhova. This chapter uncovers a major social force behind the first global success of the play. Although discernible in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways, this force is the European women’s rights movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.