By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 4 April, opens 8 April and runs through 23 May 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

We had tickets to see Jessica Chastain in Jamie Lloyd’s version of this Ibsen classic before Covid hit in 2020 and sadly it never made it to the Playhouse Theatre in London although it did run on Broadway.

• Read on for reasons including how rather than being in miniature this Doll’s House construction is a gigantic must-see

So we were delighted to discover Garai (Giant, Royal Court Theatre), who won an Olivier for Best Actress In A Supporting Role for The Years in 2025, cast as Nora in this modern day reimagining of the story by Anya Reiss who has created something unexpectedly hard-hitting.

We meet Nora in her expensive rented flat which is barely furnished but for the floored Christmas tree and presents in carrier bags she has splurged on for her, her husband and their 2 children.

Husband Torvald was a banker in the original 1879 Ibsen but is re-imagined here as the former addict CEO of a start-up which is about to be sold for big money as long as nothing untoward is discovered in the due diligence process over Christmas and he’s unhappy with Nora for spending cash they don’t yet quite have.

Later we learn the money Nora bankrolled the company with wasn’t from her late father as she told her husband but was actually embezzled from a client with the intention of eventually paying it back thanks to the help of ex-convict Nils, a superbly weasly James Corrigan, who is now blackmailing Nora and threatening to scupper the start-up’s sale.

Throw in Tom Mothersdale (London Tide, National Theatre) as the increasingly suspicious Torvald, Olivier Huband as the dying family friend Petter who is crushing on Nora and Thalissa Teixeira as Kristine, a university friend of the couple’s looking for employment and there’s all the potential drama of a season of TV’s Industry.

There’s a Christmas fancy dress party at a neighbour’s house nearby and such is Nora’s desperation for her duplicity to go undiscovered she asks both Torvald and Petter how they would like her to dress, settling on a skimpy nurse’s outfit.

We hear the 2 children through the monitor in the couple’s front room or on Nora’s phone but never actually see them which is perhaps just as well because we soon learn how selfish their parents are and how little they care for them.

There’s a lot of swearing in this production and both Garai and Mothersdale excel in revealing their characters to be quite so without morals.

We’ll try not to give too much away about the ending but it is hugely relevant to the world which we now live in with current events energising the financial markets seeing some profit as others quite literally lose their lives.

We’ve waited a long time to visit A Doll’s House but rather than being in miniature this construction is a gigantic must-see.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Almeida Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen an Almeida show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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