Ibsen is child's play

A Doll's House is my second Ibsen play. The first was Pretenders, a little-known early piece set in fourth-century Norway which was directed by Danny Boyle. We were petrified when we were told we were premiering the play in September at Norway's Ibsen Festival. We thought this was a ridiculous idea and they had just thrown us to the wolves. But I have to say we are still living off the buzz of it, because the Norwegians were wonderful. They stood up at the end and did all those lovely things actors never get but wish for. And afterwards many commented that they hadn't seen such a clear production, that so many things had come alive to them.

What is going on in this production is clear and unrelenting ? such as the themes of poverty and fear of moral corruption. What surprised me more than anything was that audiences laughed. They laughed a lot. I had always thought of Ibsen as being serious, but of course he is a great playwright ? so he knows the audience needs to release that tension, and in fact there are a lot of laughs in the play.

Not that we play it up, it is just the characters are so ridiculous and extreme. Nora (Anne-Marie Duff, below) is extremely feminine and my character Torvald is extremely masculine in the most negative sense. He is not vulnerable: very few emotions are shown and when they are they are tight emotions.

We have been touring the production for about four weeks now. Touring is a bit like being in a band ? but without the drugs! It is like going to war. You pack up every-thing in your old kit bag and off you go. It is pretty miserable, actually. But this company has made it lots of fun.