Abstract
“Merits and Demerits of Ibsen’s great play”: The Reception of a performance of A Doll’s House by the Novelty Theatre Company at The Theatre Royal Brighton England June 20th 1889. This article discusses the reception of a matinée performance of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House on June 20th 1889 at The Theatre Royal Brighton England. This would be the only performance mounted outside London of the original Novelty Theatre Company’s three week production in English as translated by William Archer.Resources from the Brighton Archives which have not been examined before are used, including theatre reviews from local newspapers: The Brighton Herald, The Brighton Examine, The Brighton Times, and The Argus. Coverage of the performance in these newspapers illustrates how the battle between supporters and detractors of Ibsen’s drama continued outside London. Their reviews of the matinée offer valuable insights into the reception of A Doll’s House, not only by theatre critics but a specific audience on a particular English provincial, The Theatre Royal Brighton.Such newspaper accounts allow us to get a much more detailed perspective on Ibsen and the intellectual issues that his drama raised for a provincial audience in Brighton England. The article examines in detail positive responses to Ibsen´s play and the social issues that both shocked and fascinated his audience.
Highlights
In the production of A Doll’s House that played the boards in Brighton that June, Janet Achurch was cast as Nora while at the same time managing the Novelty Company together with her business partner and future husband, Charles Charrington
This review suggests that a provincial theatre critic in a local newspaper was keenly aware of his own audience and perceived himself as an arbiter of taste and morality
Local playgoers will have tomorrow the chance of deciding for themselves as to the merits and demerits of Ibsen’s great play, as the entire Novelty Company are visiting Brighton to appear at the matinee under the direction of Mr Charles Charrington and Miss Janet Achurch as Nora Helmer (The Argus 19 June 1889)
Summary
With these announcements serving as a cultural and social backdrop, this article will construct the reception of Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House at a matinée performance in the Theatre Royal Brighton, England, Thursday afternoon June 20 1889.
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