How Would You Direct Mrs Linde’s Initial Visit to Nora in Order to Show the Differences Between the Characters?

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Henrik Ibsen’s contemporary realist drama ‘A Doll’s House’ is the story of three days in the home of Torvald and Nora Helmer, a newly promoted banker and his dominated subservient wife Nora who has secretly taken out a loan in order to save her husband’s failing health, three years previous to the play’s action. Mrs Linde is an old friend of Nora’s who visits her with the aim of securing a job with Torvald at the bank following the death of her husband. I will be discussing Mrs Linde’s first entrance, a visit to Nora’s home in which Nora tells her of the loan she has illegally taken out. In order to highlight the fluctuating difference in status of the characters throughout the scene I would direct the actors to use a number of dramatic techniques such as levels, proxemics, body posture and volume. Firstly, in Mrs Linde’s initial entrance, I would have her directly follow the maid onstage through a door at upstage left, and remain positioned behind the maid until her line “Good morning, Nora”. I would direct her to slowly look up at Nora and deliver the line with a friendly tone of voice to indicate that she should be familiar. I would have her clasp her hands together in order to show that she is uncomfortable in the luxury of the Helmer household, and to immediately introduce her as a sympathetic character. She would have weak body posture to indicate that she is weary, by dropping her shoulders and having relaxed body tension. She would have a slight pained smile when saying “Nora” in order to demonstrate that she is tired through relieved at her arrival, and wants to remain polite. It would also indicate that she wants to be perceived as sympathetic in order to get Nora to ask Torvald for a job for her. I would have her remain towards the back of the stage throughout the initial encounter in order to show that she feels uncomfortable as an outsider, juxtaposing

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