“I-Doll-atry No Longer”

Parody of A Dolls House written by Anand Selvam

SETTING: A small, poorly lit building sits alone near the outskirts of the town. It
mars the otherwise familiar streets of a traditional community. The shadows appear as fixtures of the façade, seizing any light that might infiltrate the premises. Several small windows are boarded with cheap plywood and anyone who passes the sidewalk in front of the building does so with a seemingly odd dance. Most individuals glance both ways and then rush across the pavement, as if their lives depended on it. However, these same people then stop right near the vestibule to take a quick glance inwards, and after a moment dash away as if they have been afflicted with the Bubonic Plague. Such behavior might be taken to signify that the individuals within could possibly be selling themselves as a function of monetary sustenance.

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(Interestingly, a man wanders listlessly across the pavement in front of the building. He never looks up and seems to suffer the weight of the world upon his lonely shoulders. However, when he finally realizes where he is, he boldly walks through the threshold that in many ways represents the quintessence of despair.)

OWNER: (with a sense of familiarity) Oh, it’s you again. Don’t you have anything
better to do with your nice jacket and leather shoes? Or is it just that your wife’s too old for you?

TORVALD: I don’t have a wife. (He places money on the front desk and proceeds up
the stairs without saying anything else.)

(After opening the door at the far end of the corridor, Torvald quickly begins to unbutton his shirt.)

WOMAN: So you’re not even going to say hello?

TORVALD: I don’t have any use for greetings. If you want greetings why don’t you get another job?

WOMAN: I’ve certainly tried sir, but this is the only work I could find.

TORVALD: (finally looks up at a woman who appears to have been beautiful in the past, but has since grown old and weary) Why don’t you find a husband? There are plenty of people around here that are lonely...(with these words, Torvald stops mid-sentence and drops his tie to the ground)

WOMAN: What’s wrong? Haven’t you seen an old lady before?

TORVALD: (astonished) It can’t be true! Nora, you have stalked me in what seems to be a never-ending nightmare!

NORA: I was afraid that you wouldn’t recognize me.

TORVALD: (with anger) What on earth are you doing here? When you said that you wanted to get worldly experience, I didn’t think you meant something like this!

NORA: (bitterly) Do you honestly believe that I haven’t tried to get any other work? Are you still that insensitive?

TORVALD: I didn’t mean it that way. I’ve had it hard too you know.

NORA: Oh, really? You have a nice home with the kids. You’re the head manager of the bank and raking in the money. You have all the comforts of life and you still come here for your pleasures. I have gone to every single business in this city and not a single soul will take me on as anything. I can’t even take out the garbage at the fish market. They tell me to go get a nice husband and have some kids. I couldn’t stay with Kristine for long; I didn’t want to intrude on her. I slept on the streets and begged for food. I’ve been ravaged and beaten for my beauty and sharp tongue. After five long years, I have finally found this wretched work. It is the only way I can sustain myself.

TORVALD: (visibly saddened) I told you not to go. I told you that I would change. I thought I was being a good husband. I tried to watch out for you. After you left, my home was only a house.

NORA: Yes, you had no doll to play with any longer.

TORVALD: I only wanted to protect you.

NORA: And that’s what I tried to do for you.

TORVALD: What you did was just a shock at first. How would you expect anyone else to react? I thought our lives would be over.

NORA: You thought your life would be over.

TORVALD: (taken aback) You and I were one.

NORA: How could we have been one when we never truly understood one another?

TORVALD: That appears to be true, now that I think about it. But, how is it any more my fault than yours? I thought I was doing a good job protecting you. If you had such a big secret then you should have told me earlier. You waited until the most inopportune time to reveal it. If you really believed in an equal partnership then we should have talked heart to heart earlier. You waited for a glorious moment which didn’t come. I hope you’ve realized that there are not many glorious moments in this world.

NORA: Yes, I have realized that. However, you know that even if we did talk earlier, it would never have worked. You would not have allowed it.

TORVALD: You should have tried, though. Maybe that would have been a glorious moment. Eight years of disillusion could not be so easily lifted in one moment.

NORA: Alas, we are both at fault.

TORVALD: After you left, I truly was heartbroken. I truly believed that we were in love. As you said, I too was living in a doll-house. I was a doll playing with but a fellow doll-mate. Following my loss of you, I dove into my work. It consumed me, literally. I worked so hard to do a good job as manager, but I think I overworked the employees. It really was my first experience in management, but I didn’t think that they would start an insurrection. It was all because of your friend Kristine. She let the others believe that they could do something about me. The owner was old and agreed with the demand to have me fired. I had no money left, nothing. I couldn’t meet the payments for our apartment. I couldn’t even pay Anne-Marie. (he pauses momentarily and his eyes begin to well up with tears) I even had to let the children go into foster homes. I had nothing and I also slept on the streets for a time. You couldn’t get a job at the fish market taking out the trash, because that’s my job. I sleep on a mattress there in the corner now. I’m rarely sober and the only pleasures I used to get were in coming here. Now, even those pleasures have worn away.

NORA: I see we’ve both traveled long hard roads and they have seemed to cross.

TORVALD: What do you mean by that?

NORA: Let’s go get our children back.

TORVALD: Do you really think that this could work?

NORA: Now that we’re both out of society’s doll-house, maybe we can better understand one another. I hope I can learn something from what Kristine has done.

TORVALD: You must be going mad.

NORA: I don’t mean in the way that she has hurt you. I mean that I need to take charge to improve my life. Now I have a chance.

TORVALD: Where would we live? Where will we work?

(suddenly there’s a loud banging on the door and the owner angrily barges in)

OWNER: What are you doing here sitting and chatting, whore?!?! I’ve kept you here even though you bring in the least business! Just wait until I get my hands on you. (he approaches menacingly)

TORVALD: (violently) What do you think you’re doing?!?!

OWNER: Your time’s up Helmer. Get out of here.

TORVALD: (in a rage) That’s my wife you’re talking to! (He gets up off the bed and gives the brothel owner a violent blow to the head. The man falls limply to the floor.)

NORA: (startled) That was quite unnecessary.

TORVALD: Sorry. I thought that I might be able to recreate the glorious moment that I missed so long ago.

NORA: There really are no glorious moments anymore. First, we must get the children back. Kristine convinced me to let Krogstad take care of the matters with my father’s house. When I finally lost all hope and went to inquire about the house, I found that it was being rented out. I demanded to know who the proprietor was. They showed me a lease signed by Krogstad. When I told them he was a crook, they threw me into the street.

TORVALD: That is certainly shameful. Did you ever go talk to those two swindlers?

NORA: I tried to, but I was never let up into their apartment. One time I tried to sneak upstairs, but the security guard caught me and threw me out.

TORVALD: Just wait until I get my hands on Krogstad. To have the nerve to take advantage of a woman like that.

NORA: It was my own fault, but I have learned now more about this world. Don’t worry, now we have the blackmail material.

TORVALD: You have become much more clever than me now dear.

NORA: I don’t know about that, but I’m certainly more clever than I was before.

TORVALD: Are you really sure this is going to work?

NORA: (leading Torvald out of the brothel by the hand) I don’t know, but we must certainly try.

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Rating: 2.4 out of 38 votes cast