Writing a Theatre Review

For this task you will be required to write a review based on live theatre
that you have viewed with your class.
Step 1:
● View the play
● Take notes under the following headings (you will be able to fill out some of these
answers during the play – the others you will need to reflect on after viewing the play):
PERSONAL RESPONSE:

● Was I stimulated, provoked, inspired, angered, entertained, upset, bored, amused

etc during this play? Yes, it invoked all these feelings in me during the play.
● Did I enjoy the play? Yes, I did. It has an engaging plot line.
● Did I learn something? I learnt that we are treated only the way we allow others to treat
us. So, respect yourself enough to not permit yourselves to be disrespected by others.
● Did I feel that it had something to say? What? The play was ambiguous and at the same
time very clear. It addresses many social issues of that time, including the major one being the
female oppression/gender roles in society, others include marriage, double standards, etc.

● What were the best and worst aspects of the production?

BEST ASPECTS WORST ASPECTS
True representation of feminine love- Nora’s leaving her house without even saying
Nora’s sacrifice shows how far a woman goodbye to her children- Being the first true
could go to protect her loved ones. feminist play, it reflected stories of “feminists”
Similarly, Christine sacrifices her love who felt the need to abandon home and family
and marries a rich man just to help her sickto “find” themselves. But I feel that there is
mother and support her family. nothing feminine about walking out on your
children, and in this case not even saying
One of the best aspects of the play is that good-bye.
shows the development of truly
independent female heroin. It rejects the It shows the angle where fraud committed for
patriarchy women were socialised to the sake of one's loved ones ought not to be
accept unconditionally such as being illegal. Nora commits forgery (though for
controlled, having no power to make any good reason), she lies to her husband and hides
strong decision and the helpless creatures truth for seven years. If only she’d have been
who need a male support to live with honest and open with Torvald from the
respect in society. beginning, she could have avoided the
ultimate ending.

● Would I recommend this play to others? Why? A Doll’s House represents all of its themes
in the most realistic way by depicting the situation of a woman’s sacrifice for her husband and
how in return he berates her, calling her a dishonest and immoral woman. In her moment of
epiphany, she is courageous enough to accept the terrible consequence of her newly awakened
knowledge of good and evil, takes a stand and decides to ‘discover’ herself. The play also
highlights the importance of the balance of power in a relationship and is a required reading for
people who wish to understand gender relations in the twentieth century and beyond, and the
modern theatre and bourgeois society.