has fallen for both the opera and for him. Nora sits nervously at one side of the stage while Johan watches her from the other. At some point in the opera the entire stage freezes in a tableau, lights dimmed, except for a light on Nora, and Johan is further impressed at how different she is. At the end of his song, the stage comes to life and the opera resumes to its climactic finish. Nora tells Johan that Otto will need a subsidy to be able to finish his work. Astrid, overhearing this and realising the relationship between Otto and Nora, suddenly loses interest and dismisses everyone. Otto has turned on Nora, furiously blaming her for ruining his chances. Astrid, in a change of mind. sends Otto a note and some money, saying she will sponsor him. When Otto, overjoyed, forgives Nora. calling her "a silly little goose," she realises he in no way thought of her as an "equal partner," sees the resemblance between this and the wayTorvald treated her, and knows she must leave and learn nor to depend on anyone but herself. Outside again in the limbo of the city, she sings Learn to Be Lonely. She realises she must hove an education - "knowledge gives you power" - and wants to try the University. Nora, who's had to take any job to stay alive, is working in a fish canning factory owned by Mr. Didrickson. She and other girls are seated at a long table cutting and canning fish. In these dismal surroundings, with long hours, dirt and freezing cold, Nora. has somehow been reading, educating and finding herself. She suddenly realises that conditions are intolerable and something must be done about them and calls on the women to assert themselves as human beings. After being arrested for the third time for demonstrating and making speeches, Nora, in jail, writes to her children what she has learned about inequality and the law. Johan, whom she has contacted, arrives, and is appalled that she is in jail. He quickly has her freed. When she tells him that someday she will meet this Mr. Didrickson and make him see the suffering he has caused. Johan tells her they have already met and that Otto's opera is being produced through Eric's patronage, starring Astrid. The opera is opening that very night and Johan invites her to go to it with him and sit in Didrickson's box where she can confront him. When Eric enters, Johan presents Nora, looking resplendent and beautiful in full evening regalia he stands back amused and admiringly to enjoy the encounter. Eric is immediately taken with her, and is astonished but unruffled when he learns she had been one of his working girls. She denounces him for his cruelty, contempt for the workers and for women, and demands that he make changes. Johan applauds. Eric asks for a few minutes with her privately and Johan reluctantly leaves. Eric says he will meet all her demands if she will come home with him at once. Nora, enflamed by his affrontery, amazes him by saying "yes." She is unexpectedly attracted to him physically. The terms of their bargain are arranged during a song of seduction, and as the act ends, the opera house has disappeared and Nora is about to enter Eric's door, and another phase of her life. ACT 2 Six months later, Nora, in bed, is luxuriating in her newfound, erotic experience. She is not only caught up in Eric's spell, but at the some time has not given up her education, and is learning about money and power. She also accomplishes further reforms at the cannery. Eric has invited several powerful political and financial figures for billiards, cards, and supper, using Nora as his stunning hostess, the only woman in the room. When Johan enters, we realise that she has been pawning Eric's jewelry, and that Johan, (since as a woman she could not do this herself) has been investing it for her on the Exchange, so that she now has some money of her own. Otto, dropped by Astrid when the opera failed, has been hired by Eric as a butler. Johan, now realises that he is hopelessly in love with her and has lost her to Eric. All three men watch her as she plays cards with a group of guests. Johan leaves in a frustrated rage and Nora, having won at cards, is carried away by a giddy feeling of all out confidence, and a sense of power she feels she has learned from men. She knows that in the long run what power is, "having been born a man". The following morning, having incurred Eric's displeasure the night before by her outburst, she discovers that another woman has spent the night with him in that very house. She is Jacqueline Le Beau, who works in the perfume shop where Eric had been buying Nora perfume. Nora,
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