Plays / A Doll's House

A Doll's House: who’s in each scene

Henrik Ibsen (tr. William Archer) · 1879

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Scenes

Speaking roles

Groups / ensemble

Scene × character grid

● speaks · ○ on stage, no lines. Weight compares each scene’s length to the play’s typical scene.

Scene	Weight	Nora Helmer	Torvald Helmer	Ellen	A Porter	Mrs. Linden	Nils Krogstad	Doctor Rank	Anna	The Helmers' Children
Act 1 (i)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy	●	●	●	●
Act 1 (ii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy	●				●
Act 1 (iii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●		●		●	●
Act 1 (iv)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●				●		●
Act 1 (v)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●	●			●		●	○	○
Act 1 (vi)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy	●					●			○
Act 1 (vii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●		●						●
Act 1 (viii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	fuller	●	●						●
Act 2 (i)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●							●
Act 2 (ii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	fuller	●				●
Act 2 (iii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	fuller	●	●	●
Act 2 (iv)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy	●		●				●
Act 2 (v)Helmer's flat, sitting room	fuller	●					●
Act 2 (vi)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●	●			●
Act 2 (vii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●	●					●
Act 2 (viii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●	●	●		●		●
Act 3 (i)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy					●	●
Act 3 (ii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●	●			●
Act 3 (iii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	light	●	●
Act 3 (iv)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●	●					●
Act 3 (v)Helmer's flat, sitting room	normal	●	●
Act 3 (vi)Helmer's flat, sitting room	fuller	●	●	●
Act 3 (vii)Helmer's flat, sitting room	heavy	●	●

Cast size and doubling

8 speaking roles plus 1 group.

Helmer and Krogstad never share a unit.
Krogstad and Doctor Rank never share a unit.
Anna and Ellen never share a unit.
The Porter (Act 1 (i) only) never shares a unit with Krogstad, Doctor Rank or Mrs. Linden.

Heaviest scenes

Work these early and often:

Act 1 (ii) — 2 speaking, about 277 lines
Act 3 (vii) — 2 speaking, about 243 lines
Act 1 (vi) — 2 speaking, about 179 lines

Characters

Nora Helmer — Helmer's wife
Torvald Helmer — Nora's husband, a bank manager
Ellen — The Helmers' maid
A Porter — Delivers the Christmas tree
Mrs. Linden — Nora's old school friend, a widow
Nils Krogstad — A clerk at Helmer's bank
Doctor Rank — A physician, family friend
Anna — The children's nurse
The Helmers' Children — The Helmers' three young children

Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #70566: The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen, Vol. VII (London: William Heinemann; collected edition first printed 1906, this impression 1909), A Doll's House translated by William Archer. Breakdown derived from this text. Public domain in the United States. Breakdown only — no text of the play is reproduced here.