A Global Doll's House: Ibsen and Distant Visions by Julie Holledge et al (review)

Reflecting on their project, the authors of A Global Doll's House write that "[t]he study of so many productions of a single play is unprecedented in the historiography of modern drama, and the techniques of data analysis and visualization that we used have far-reaching possibilities for the field" (202). One might assume that there cannot possibly be anything substantial or even minor left to be said about the globally performed production of Henrik Ibsen's well-known Et dukkehjem (A Doll's House). This book will convince the reader otherwise.

A Global Doll's House sets out to map the contradictory forces of the global production history of this canonical play in order to meticulously identify factors for its global success on five continents and across many cultures. There have been other valuable publications discussing Ibsen's work within the context of globalization and cross-cultural exchange. However, this book, using digital data analytics as a major methodological tool, opens an entirely new door to the Ibsen research of the future. The writing style is very concise and scientific, yet leaves space for playfulness and surprise. This stylistic dynamic mirrors—and quite joyfully so—the research methodology that is based on a very effective dialectical integration of close readings and distant visions, an interesting switching between tree and forest vision. The authors state that the "underlying premise of the book is that new ways of looking produce new ways of thinking" (6; emphasis in original). In this particular case I am very much in agreement, as this is precisely what this book does. While close readings are an established method of critical analysis in literature and theatre studies, exercising a distant view enabled by digital data visualization offers immense potential for research.

The book is divided into two parts, "Cultural Transmission" and "Adaptation," which are the two chosen angles through which it explores the mechanics, dynamics, and historical stages of the play's growing global significance over the last 135 years. The organizing pattern of each of its parts introduces its use of terminology and methodology, before it launches into the analysis of two very specific aspects or case studies, and then concludes with a summary of its major findings. Part 1 includes "Mapping the Early Noras," in which we learn about the early commercial history of this play and patterns of transmission that challenge conventional narratives of Ibsen's success as a playwright. This is juxtaposed with brief vignettes about the lives of performers who played Nora—each vignette a breathtaking miniature provocation, ready to set off a cascade of new research in the future. This is followed by "'Peddling' Et dukkehjem: The Role of the State," which reveals "the intertwined forces of major theatre companies, theatrical families, state departments, and state policy initiatives in producing Et dukkehjem" (103). It also addresses a set of motivations for these transmissions on the Norwegian side that are not at all necessarily grounded in artistic appreciation of Ibsen's work or the desire for social/feminist change and/or individual liberation. Part 2, "Adaptation," is broken down into "Adaptation at a Distance" and "Ibsen's Challenge: The Tarantella Rehearsal." These two chapters provide exciting new insights into the patterns and structures of dramaturgical and performative engagement with Ibsen's dramatic text, exemplified through visualizations and critical discussions of artistic, cultural, and political interventions that speak to the enormous flexibility that Ibsen's play offers to theatre artists across time and space. My personally favorite section, which will inform my teaching, research, and creative praxis, is the discussion of physical scores embedded in dramatic writing, of which Ibsen was a highly sophisticated maker.

The book includes not only rigorous scholarly narratives, but also visualized graphs, maps, and networks that allow us to understand patterns, structures, and models of Ibsen's global success from a metaphorical bird...