Mabou Mines Production Analysis

Mabou Mines’ production of Dollhouse captured my attention and introduced me to a new way of thinking about creative theatre. The production showed me a portrayal of theatrical text that stretched artistic boundaries in a way to captivate audience members throughout the entire production. This production made me angry, laugh, feel disturbed, and many other emotions all under three hours. A truly incredible performance can make an audience member feel many emotions, especially emotions that they are not comfortable feeling. The main aspects of the production that drew me in and made emotions arise were in: the portrayal of Nora’s transformation, the creative use of color and sound, and the revolutionary use of size and space. The first time …show more content…
However, after seeing the imaginative use of color and sound in the live play, I saw the story in a new light. The lighting often matched the mood of the scene which I enjoyed. An example of this was when the villain, Krogstad, came in initially, the lights flickered and were green and yellow in color, as Nora’s children screamed in terror. The use of lights and sounds to visually and sensually match each scene brought the play off the script and enthralled me as an audience member. Another use of color was in the contrast between Kristine and Nora’ s looks. Nora was light in color and looked as a child or a classic doll would look. Kristine looked darker, more mysterious, and older than Nora. I enjoyed the sound that came from the pianist being a part of the story. She would play the piano at times in the play to aid in the audience feeling as the actors felt. During dramatic parts of the play, the piano music would often escalate into a frenzy and then completely stop leaving the audience in silence to mindfully digest the chaos that they just watched. The color and sound brought Dollhouse to a fascinating dimension that aided in my absorption of the