INGMAR BERGMANN'S "NORA" - - - - West Los Angeles Review by Morna Murphy Martell for NOT BORN YESTERDAY “A Doll’s House,” Henrik Ibsen’s play about a child wife coming to sudden maturity and walking out on her family, opened in 1879 and caused a sensation. Almost 100 years later, Ingmar Bergman adapted this long-winded play into a tight drama, with only the five major characters, and re-titled it “Nora.”  By focusing on Read More

NORA Click here for Anthony Byrnes Commentary on NORA at PRT It’s been a tough couple of years, a sort of family recession for Nora. Looking back, it all started when her husband left his job. He couldn’t find another. Really there was nothing out there. Then he got sick, really sick. There were some major medical bills to be paid. Nora didn’t know what to do. She had to find Read More

Worth looking at Nora, the woman at the center of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 A Doll's House and a pivotal female character for modern drama, returns to Los Angeles by way of Ingmar Bergman's stripped down adaptation, Nora. Dana Jackson's staging at the Pacific Resident Theatre continues through February 24, after several extensions. Nora was one of three adaptations Bergman wrote and directed in 1981. Performed back-to-back during a seven-hour marathon at Munich's Read More

By Joan Alperin Schwartz 'Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Road' is so entertaining that I've seen it not once...but twice. This is a funny, touching play, written by Keith Stevenson, who also stars in it. Keith plays JD, a seemingly innocent/naive man, who lives in a small, dirty, rundown motel room somewhere in West Virginia. One day, JD decides he'd like to expand his circle of friends, so he advertises for a roommate Read More

December 19, 2012 Keith Stevenson and Kendrah McKay in "A Fried Meat Christmas" The author Kathleen Duey once encountered Ray Bradbury in an elevator and asked what advice he could give a beginner. “Ass glue,” he replied. It should be sold in stores, because I could use a gallon or two. In fact, I got up from my chair and paced around outside after I finished that last sentence. The biggest Read More

Well, Christmas is over and, unfortunately, due to unmitigating circumstances, I was unable to review a very funny play in time for your holiday pleasure. A Fried Meat Christmas, a sequel to Keith Stevenson's hit comedy, Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd., that was presented by the Pacific Resident Theatre Company in May of 2012 (see my review), recently held aloft at the same theatre as their 2012 Christmas Read More

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright, most notable for his play, A Doll's House, which premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 21, 1879. The play was critically acclaimed due to its devisive theme (for its time) women's rights, though Ibsen claimed that he did not consciously strive for the promotion of the women's rights movement. Ingmar Bergman (1918- 2007) was a Swedish writer, producer, and director for Read More

December 6, 2012, 2:53 p.m. Review: 'Nora's' excellent cast cuts to the heart of a masterwork - By F. Kathleen Foley Jeanette Driver and Brad Greenquist (Vitor Martins) Creator of such epic projects as “Fanny and Alexander” and “Scenes From a Marriage” -- both later edited into feature-length format -- Ingmar Bergman hardly seems the go-to guy when it comes to condensing an existing script. Yet “Nora,” Bergman’s briskly abbreviated version of Ibsen’s “A Read More

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 Read More