TEHRAN-The play “A Doll's House” written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is being staged at Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran.

Mikail Shahrestani has directed the 80-minute play that will remain on stage until January 5, 2025, Honaronline reported.

The actors vary on odd and even nights. On odd nights, the play is performed by Mansoureh Abdollahi, Amirreza Vahhabpour, Saeideh Rezaei, Vida Zavareian, Taha Nikzad, and Pedram Koohi.

Mahsa Asghari, Aliakbar Zeinali, Nesa Shahcheraghi, Fatemeh Amirjan, Kamran Jame, and Amin Bonabi perform on even nights.

“A Doll's House” is a three-act play written in 1879, and the story is set in a Norwegian town in the same year.

The play concerns the fate of a married woman, who, at the time in Norway, lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Despite the fact that Ibsen denied it was his intent to write a feminist play, it was a great sensation at the time and caused a "storm of outraged controversy" that went beyond the theater to the world of newspapers and society.

It is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle-class marriage on the stage. The play ushered in a new social era and “exploded like a bomb into contemporary life”.

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the “father of modern drama”. Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors and one of the most important playwrights of all time, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians.

He pioneered theatrical realism, but also wrote lyrical epic works. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and “A Doll's House” was the world's most performed play in 2006.

SS/