PLEXUS POLAIRE

• Direction and Adaptation Yngvild Aspeli, Paola Rizza
• Text Henrik Ibsen
• Performers and Puppeteers Yngvild Aspeli / Maja Kunšič, Viktor Lukawski / Jofre Carabén
• Original Score Guro Skumsnes Moe
• Choir Recording Oslo 14 Ensemble
• Puppet Making Yngvild Aspeli, Sebastien Puech, Carole Allemand, Pascale Blaison, Delphine Cerf, Romain Duverne
• Set Design François Gauthier-Lafaye
• Choreography Cécile Laloy
• Lighting Design Vincent Loubière / Marine David
• Costume Design Benjamin Moreau
• Sound Design Simon Masson / Raphaël Barani
• Stage Technician and Puppet Manipulation Alix Weugue / Léa Bres
• Dramaturgy Pauline Thimonnier
• Co-producers Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne CDN (FR), Figurteatret i Nordland, Stamsund (NO), Les Gémeaux, scène nationale de Sceaux (FR), Le Bateau Feu, scène nationale de Dunkerque (FR), Le Trident, scène nationale de Cherbourg (FR), Le Manège, scène nationale de Reims (FR), Baerum Kulturhus (NO), Nordland Teater, Mo i Rana (NO), Teater Innlandet, Hamar (NO), Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnette de Charleville-Mézières (FR), Ljubljana Puppet Theatre / Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana (SI)

Supported by Kulturrådet / Arts Council Norway (NO), DGCA Ministère de la Culture (FR), DRAC and Région Bourgogne–Franche-Comté (FR), Département de l’Yonne (FR)

Lasts approx. 80’; no interval
Age Limit: 14+
In English; with Turkish surtitles

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, regarded as one of the masterpieces of modern theatre, comes to the festival this year in one of its boldest adaptations to date. Director, performer and puppeteer Yngvild Aspeli, Norwegian like Ibsen himself, transforms the play’s uncanny atmosphere into a fantastical dimension through hyper-realistic human puppets and recurring images of spiders and birds.

One day, Nora comes up against an invisible glass wall surrounding her existence. In an old house where the past quietly persists, the roles imposed by family life, the risks taken in the pursuit of self-discovery and the illusions that surround her unfold one after another. Moving between the desire to control and surrender, to hold on and to let go, Nora searches for a narrow crack leading to freedom within a life enclosed by invisible walls.

Co-directed by Yngvild Aspeli and the Italian theatre-maker, dramaturg and stage director Paola Rizza, the production reimagines Ibsen’s century-spanning text through the possibilities of puppet theatre. As the coherence of Nora’s inner world gradually unravels, reality on stage begins to fragment as well, and the distinctions between the natural and the artificial, performer and puppet, character and object become increasingly blurred.

With its specially composed music, unconventional stage design and dramaturgy, A Doll’s House is a striking as well as dark psychological exploration of the fragility of the desire for freedom.

‘And then there are the spiders. At first tiny and discreet, over the course of the show they become enormous and invasive, referring to the key scene of the play, the one where Nora experiences a sort of liberating trance, while dancing the tarantella. We will keep it in our hearts for a long time, the mythological fight between Nora, magnificently played by Yngvild Aspeli herself, and the beast with tentacle legs.’
— Fabienne Darge, Le Monde

Tickets go on general sale on Friday 10 July at 10.30. Priority booking opens at 10.30 on Tuesday 7 July for Black Tulip Card members, on Wednesday 8 July for White Tulip Card members, and on Thursday 9 July for Red Tulip Card members. For detailed information on ticketing, student tickets and the 50% discount available to audience members with disabilities, please click here. The full festival programme will be announced in September.

PLEASE NOTE

• There is no parking available at the venue. The nearest accessible car park is the İSPARK Maçka Multi-Storey Car Park (300 m away), where accessible parking spaces are available.
• Food and beverage options are available.
• A cloakroom service is available.

ACCESSIBILITY

• The venue is accessible by the M2 metro line (Osmanbey Station, Harbiye/Pangaltı exit, 900 m) and by bus (TRT İstanbul Radyosu, İnönü and Harbiye direction stop, 900 m).
• The main entrance and foyer are step-free.
• The auditorium is wheelchair accessible.
• There is 1 accessible toilet at the venue.