Stodgy ‘Doll House’ Offers No Welcome Mat

It’s good that the county’s colleges aren’t falling back on familiar material this fall, but stretching themselves with the unconventional and the classic.

But the strain in the stretching shows in director Peter Senkbeil’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s watershed 1879 play “A Doll’s House” at Concordia University in Irvine. At a certain point here, the challenging experience for the student actors far surpasses anything we’re receiving in the seats.

Indeed, this “Doll’s House” is so gray, studious and literal (the text based on a recent version by Frank McGuinness) that you hope this isn’t the first taste of Ibsen for any students in the audience.

Supremely adult and subtle in its relationships and characterizations, Ibsen’s play is one of the great acting mountains to climb: Every serious actor should try it; most get winded. And no amount of understanding of the text by Senkbeil (which he indicates in his unusually thoughtful program notes) seems to turn his student cast into real Mt. Ibsen climbers.

As Nora, Rachel Rol is a generally strong center, gradually shifting from the flighty superficialities of the early scenes toward a darker resolve in the later ones.

Ibsen’s great achievement here is to birth a character before our eyes, taking her from blank, bourgeois innocence to daring adventure. Rol, within a limited range, suggests that change. So does Carrie Cummings as Kristine, who goes through a kind of opposite change from Nora.

The energy, though, is dragged down by the men, who barely indicate an understanding of their characters.

A high level of stagecraft shows in Jennifer Clinton’s costumes and Tim Mueller’s properly 19th century set design, but the play’s biggest stage moment--Nora’s final slam of the door as she leaves Torvald--is muffled offstage.

BE THERE

“A Doll’s House,” Concordia University Theatre, 1530 Concordia Drive West, Irvine. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $5-$7. Ends Sunday. (949) 854-8002 ext. 526. Running time: 3 hours, 10 minutes.