Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of A Doll’s House restructures Henrik Ibsen’s fierce family drama, stripping the play to its emotional essence, a goal that’s underscored by director Dana Jackson’s spartan but evocative production. On a simple set consisting of some chairs, a Christmas tree in the back and, later, a bed, Jackson’s staging puts its emphasis where the play’s money is — on the subtext driving the car crash that is the marriage of Nora and Torvald Helmer. Brad Greenquist’s brutally curt and entitled Torvald comes across as the sort of business executive who sees a trophy wife as being merely part of his resume, while Jeanette Driver’s Nora, with surface-level bubbliness belying an interior desperation and, yes, horror, is subtle and touching. Add to this Martha Hackett’s wan, hard-used Mrs. Linde and Scott Conte’s self-loathingly desperate Krogstad, and the production boasts some incredibly nuanced characterizations. Although the decision (by Bergman, not Jackson) to add a dramatic, pace-interrupting sex scene to the final act jars, the clarity and power of the show’s performances make this a textbook dynamic production of the tragic drama. Pacific Resident Theatre, 705 ½ Venice Blvd, Venice; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through Jan. 27. (310) 822-8392, pacificresidenttheatre.com. (Paul Birchall)
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