A Global Doll's House ― Ibsen and Distant Visions

This book addresses a deceptively simple question: what accounts for the global success of A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen’s most popular play? Using maps, networks, and images to explore the world history of the play’s production, this question is considered from two angles: cultural transmission and adaptation. Analysing the play’s transmission reveals the social, economic, and political forces that have secured its place in the canon of world drama; a comparative study of the play’s 135-year production history across five continents offers new insights into theatrical adaptation. Key areas of research include the global tours of nineteenth-century actress-managers, Norway’s soft diplomacy in promoting gender equality, representations of the female performing body, and the sexual vectors of social change in theatre.

Led by Professor Julie Holledge (Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo), this collaborative project brings together Ibsen specialists with scholars in digital humanities and theatre studies: Dr Jonathan Bollen (University of New South Wales, Australia), Director of?AusStage,?the Australian database for researching performance?(2006-13); Professor Frode Helland, (Director of the Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo, Norway), author of?Ibsen in Practice?(2015); and Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland, Australia), author of?Theatre’s Heterotopias?(2014), and co-author with Holledge of?Women’s Intercultural Performance?(2001), winner of the Rob Jordan Book Prize.