Probationary Theater Company delves into a tale of strife for its first-ever period play.

White Box Theater will provide the stage for their performance of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” for two weekends starting Friday.

Written in 1879, the play looks at the relationship between Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald in Norway at the time.

The play broke new ground in realism and exploration of marriage and relationships within the family. Many have interpreted “A Doll’s House” as a feminist play, but director Liam Mitchinson disagrees, noting that Ibsen also rejected the suggestion.

“There are a lot of different ways to interpret the characters,” he said.

“It would be very simple to approach the play in terms of having Krogstad as an out-and-out villain and having Nora’s husband as a misogynist control freak who manages each and every aspect of her life, and she finally gains freedom from that. But I think it’s actually a lot deeper than that.”

Instead, Mitchinson said he wanted to look at the play’s central relationship and try to explore how it worked.

“The key aspect for me is finding common ground between Nora and Torvald. How do they manage as a couple?

“I don’t want it to be a completely one-sided affair and I don’t think that it is. Nora does have a certain amount of power over the household; she just has to use different means to obtain that power than Torvald.”

It will also be the first drama with child actors. Mitchinson has worked with children in theater before, though in plays geared for children, such as pirate or fairy tales.

“Whereas this is an adult show in which the children appear briefly and kind of bring up some issues with the parents,” said Mitchinson.

“They’re essentially raised by their nanny and their relationship with their mother is almost as if she’s one of their peers. They play games together, but she never imparts knowledge to them or chastises them for anythings they just play with each other.”

The play is also the first straight piece of period drama the theater has put on, and it was a challenge to get the set looking as close as possible to 19th-century Norway.

“The whole idea behind ‘A Doll’s House’ is that it was essentially the first genuine attempt at realism on the stage. There’s no melodrama, there’s no over-the-top excesses in the storyline, etc. So the set kind of has to reflect that.”

As well as scenery, the cultural references and context had to be looked at.

Since the play is about the expectations of society at that time, Mitchinson said he had to do a lot of research into Norwegian society to find out what some of the references meant. The cultural context was important too, as the play is set in far more conservative times.

“She wants to say something naughty and she eventually comes out with ‘I’ll be damned!’

“In today’s parlance it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense but back in the day it would have been quite a risque thing to say in polite society.”

Indeed, it’s open discussion of women’s desires and marital separation caused uproar at the time ― Ibsen was even persuaded to write an alternative ending to make it acceptable in Germany ― but those subjects would not cause a stir today. Nonetheless Mitchinson said much of the play’s message still rings true.

“I think it’s a fantastic play, the story is brilliant, the characters are written beautifully and I think it still has a lot of relevance to society as we know it, particularly from characters such as Torvald and Dr. Rank,” he said.

“Torvald is driven by this need to be looked upon favorably by society ... and a lot of people are still ruled by other people’s opinions.”

Shows are 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are 15,000 won, and can be reserved via www.probationarytheatre.com.

To get to White Box Theater, leave Exit 2 of Hyochang Park Station, double back and turn right up the hill. Turn right again at the florist and the theater is about 50 meters up the hill on the right.

By Paul Kerry  (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)