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Ibsen’s Challenge: The Tarantella Rehearsal

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Book cover A Global Doll's House

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Performance and Technology ((PSPT))

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Abstract

Investigating multiple versions of a single scene from Ibsen’s play, the tarantella rehearsal, this chapter examines patterns from 150 productions. The prototype tree design includes a trunk (the most recurring image) as the iconic image of Nora with the tambourine raised above her head performing an Italian folk dance. The four branches that depart from this interpretation are the branch of cuts and substitutions; the voyeuristic branch; the branch of transgressions where Nora breaks through respectable conventions of drawing-room entertainment to embody some form of social negation; and the branch of other dancing bodies where new corporeal representations challenge assumptions about heterosexual desire and the social organisation of gender. Our analysis uncovers some of the social, political, and representational forces at work within Et dukkehjem.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Julie Holledge & Frode Helland

  2. School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Jonathan Bollen

  3. Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia

    Joanne Tompkins

Authors
  1. Julie Holledge
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  2. Jonathan Bollen
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  3. Frode Helland
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  4. Joanne Tompkins
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Holledge, J., Bollen, J., Helland, F., Tompkins, J. (2016). Ibsen’s Challenge: The Tarantella Rehearsal. In: A Global Doll's House. Palgrave Studies in Performance and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43899-7_5

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