A Doll House. Based on the Play by Henrik Ibsen (review)

part arranged (that is perhaps too kind a word) under each of the German authors ' names. So one is repeatedly called on to stop and re-orient oneself. Getting lost in the bibliography is easy; finding what you're looking for is not. An index of proper names completes the volume. It must in fairness be said here that most sections of this volume have already appeared elsewhere, ifin somewhat different form: in journals, Festschriften, or as contributions to other volumes. Thus only a limited amount of the content is actually new material. But since few libraries are likely to hold all of the earlier materials, for that reason alone, Ideology, Mimesis, Fantasy is a welcome and very worthwhile work, which offers a great deal under one cover. It belongs on the shelves ofevery university library. ^ A DollHouse. Based on the Play by Henrik Ibsen. CD-ROM. Johns Hopkins University's Digital Drama Series. South Burlington, VT: The Annenberg / Corporation for Public Broadcasting Multimedia Collection, 1997. Kim Andersen Washington State University There's no doubt about it, Y2K or not: the computer and all its related technologies have revolutionized the ways we do business and education, interact and orient ourselves in our environments — personally, socially, practically, intellectually . And it isn't just words the machine transports to us, it is also photographs, movingvideo images, colors, sounds, and music, and all die potential dimensions in which these entities interact. This is true from the most practical application of all — we may bring up on our screens constantly updated photographs, seconds apart, ofimmediate weather conditions in die nastiest high mountain passes and decide before we leave whether its worth it or not — to the most edifying ofintellectual pursuits — understanding the social, existential, and philosophical parameters of one of history's finest literary masterpieces, in this case a play, like the computer, of revolutionary substance. We are being offered no less by Johns Hopkins University's CD-ROM on Henrik Ibsen's A DollHouse. Let it be said right away: it is a thrilling tool for any individual pursuing the techniques of staging a play and even more so for the teacher introducing to students the world of Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wroteA DollHouse during the summer of 1879 at age 51 . Following its premiere at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, 21 December the same year, it immediately aroused great discussion and controversy at meetings and in pamFALL 1999 # ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW Hr 93 phlets followingeach performance in Scandinavia and Germany, later in England, America, and France. Its message is, obviously, that marriage isn't a sacred untouchable institution. Ifthe two persons involved lead institutionalized lives, their sense ofselfwill suffer and the marriage end with die eruption ofa door slamming. The play evoked a movement for social change whose repercussions still are being felt today. It has not only become standard inventory of theater productions all over the world but has also inspired volumes of scholarly interests and general social debate. The CD-ROM is intelligently designed to portray Ibsen's dramatic literature as both theatrical event and historical document. The former is first and foremost accomplished by no less dian 70 minutes ofvideotape ofselected scenes from diree different and excellent productions ofdie play starring Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins (1973), Jane Fonda and David Warner (1973), and Juliet Stevenson and Trevor Eve (1991). This feature ofthe PerformanceArchive allows you to view the same scene as interpreted by different actors and directors and when compared to Ibsen's original text (also available on the CD-ROM, naturally, in the PromptBook) the film sequences present the perhaps most efficient and edifying educational experience. The various freedoms taken or choices made by directors and actors as they speak or move, or do not move, around the room, observed in such comparisons on one's very screen with die possibility to pause and review and re-listen , establish the play as a living cell whose message suddenly gains even more presence and importance than when a part of a scene on stage runs the risk of escaping as just one moment in a fleeing sequence. The CD-ROM makes possible such objectifying contemplation through which study ofdetail...