enraged, attacks Eric, weeping and sinking to the floor clinging to him in object degradation. He points out to her that the night before she herself had satirically suggested that she was just a "possession" of his, but that actually that is all she is. This is a moment of total reawakening for her, and she knows the time has come to leave. She is not sure exactly where she will go, but she knows, in self disgust "where she has been." She asks him to touch her once more and when he does, she realises to her relief that she is "cured." Once again she is alone in the limbo of the city but this time she has the independence that money can give, and she can act like a man. She writes to her children how she hates having lost her way, and discovering dishonest and selfish traits in herself. She also tells them that to "control your own life you have got to have means". She contacts Johan who mistakenly misinterprets her note as an expression of love for him and sets up a meeting with her of a fashionable café. To Johan's dismay, also present is Jacqueline, with whom Nora plans to start a perfume business. As always, being a woman, she cannot own it in her name and needs his signature. The business flourishes, but not until Nora almost loses Johan, who she has always taken for granted. She realises her true feeling of love for him and her appreciation that he is an anomaly - totally different in his relationship to her from all other men. She becomes a prosperous independent woman and she and Johan are happy living together, but when he suggests marriage, she knows that cannot be because she would then forfeit the right to her children forever. She is determined to go to see them, to have an open dialogue with Torvald, to tell him what she has learned and to let him know that she now understands that we all … men and women alike … behave the way we are taught. She leaves Johan feeling that all may not be over between them, but that they must wait and see. Torvald enters with the children who are shyly reunited with their mother. Nora learns that Torvald must have changed too, because he has read them her letters, not turning them against her. In the last song, Nora fervently asks that they talk openly to each other, as in the past they never did … and as all men and women should; each must learn to stand alone. He resists till the end, but finally says, "sit down Nora, we must talk" As they sit face to face across the table, everything but the table and chairs and the door, luminously lit, disappear, and the curtain falls. CAST: (in order of appearance) Nora Actor Torvald Johan Otto Eric Astrid Selma Jacqueline Conductor Mr. Gustafson Escamillo Loki Mr. Zetterling Dr. Berg Ambassador Stage Manager Hamsun Petersen Warden Nilson Dowager Mr. Kloster Camilla Forrester Assistant Stage Manager Helga Prison Guards Helmer's Maid Muller Maid The Widow Ivar Emmy Bob Woman in White Woman in Red Woman in Black Man in Black Audition Singers; Stage Hands; Musicians, Waiters
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