Star of film and television, Jessica Chastain is about to make her triumphant return to Broadway with her turn in Henrik Ibsen’s iconic play A Doll’s House. This will mark Chastain’s second time on the Broadway stage, with her first being the 1947 play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Chastain is sure to set the stage on fire with her incredible performance during the show’s 16-week run starting on Mar 9, 2023.
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Jessica Chastain will play protagonist Nora Helmer in A Doll’s House
The heroine of the play is Nora Helmer. She’s a young, attractive woman who is married to a man that treats her as less than a woman. He treats her more like a child, or pet, calling her by several pet names throughout the show. Nora goes from young, innocent, and infantilized woman, to a powerful woman. She is not afraid to finally stand up to her domineering husband. Initially, she forged her father’s signature to save her husband. However, this inevitably comes back to bite her in butt. She then transforms from simple wallflower, to the strong and confident woman that she was always meant to be.
Jessica Chastain is very different from her character
Unlike Nora, Jessica Chastain is anything but a wallflower. Having developed an interest in acting at an early age, Chastain made her professional stage debut in a 1998 stage production of the Shakespearean classic Romeo & Juliet, and has continued to perform in stage productions of Othello and The Cherry Orchard whenever she isn’t active on television or in film.
The actress has gone on to make a name for herself in Hollywood with an impressive list of film and television roles. In the early years of her lengthy career Chastain had small roles in shows like ER, Veronica Mars and Law & Order: Trial By Jury. Her first major film role, Dan Ireland’s “Jolene”, a movie inspired by the hit song of the same name from country music legend Dolly Parton, didn’t come until she was 31 years old, which today isn’t completely unheard of. She has also gone on to receive many accolades, which include an Academy and Golden Globe award. Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in 2012.
There are some similarities. . .
Both Chastain and Nora are incredibly similar in their desire for independence. By the end of A Doll’s House, we see Nora no longer as the shell of a woman that she was in the beginning, absentmindedly obedient, and subservient to her husband, but rather as a strong, sophisticated and truly empowered woman that is ready to take on the world and make her own name. Throughout her impressive career, Jessica has been sure to take on roles that seem to have more feminist themes. She is an active supporter of gender rights when it comes to the film industry. She constantly lobbies for more women on film crews and in positions of power. In 2016, Chastain launched her very own production company by the name of Freckle Films and together they have produced several hit films. The company also features a predominantly all female executive team.
What is the story of A Doll’s House?
Written in 1879 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, the play follows the lives of Torvald and Nora Helmer in a time when women were seen as less than men. The play includes a three act structure. We watch as Nora starts as timid and obedient housewife to Torvald, and mother to their three children. She evolves to the the emboldened woman that takes her life back. She proves that despite her gender role, she can run with the boys. The story was based on real events that occurred between Henriks and his good friend Laura Kieler.
Like Laura in real life, In “A Doll’s House”, Nora would go on to take out a secret loan with an employee of her husbands, as well as forge a check in order to get enough money to pay for her husband’s life-saving treatment in Italy. After finding out that his employee forged another man’s signature, Torvald plans on firing him. The employee threatens Nora that if her husband fires him, then he will tell about the secret loan. This could end her marriage. Nora must now decide what is better. End her life to prevent her husband from sacrificing his reputation? Stay with her husband and continue to be subservient? Or leave him and find herself? A Doll’s House was a masterpiece when it was written, and it continues to be so to this day!
Jessica Chastain movies
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
Jessica Chastain stars as one half of the televangelist duo that was Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. The film chronicles their rise to popularity and fall from grace in midst of sex and financial scandals. We also see Tammy Faye’s ultimate return through redemption. The film also starred academy award nominee Andrew Garfield as Jim Baker.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a CIA Analyst who is sent in to work aid in the nearly decade long international manhunt to find Osama bin Laden. Over the course of the film, we go on an incredible journey of endurance and perseverance. It all leads to the inevitable death of the world most hunted terrorist at the hands of Seal Team 6. For her performance, Chastain received an academy award nomination for best supporting actress.
The Tree of Life (2011)
Chastain gives a memorable performance as Mrs. O’Brien, a Waco, Texas suburban mother who is trying to instill in her children the importance of living a life in the way of grace. The film intersperses imagery of the creation of the earth and universe, with imagery of the creation of human life. Jessica would go on to win multiple Breakthrough Performance and Breakthrough Artist awards for her performance.
Interstellar (2014)
With the survival of all life on earth, a group of astronauts agrees to travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to a new planet for the inhabitants of earth to colonize. Chastain plays the adult daughter of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), now a scientist working from earth with the scientist who initially proposed the mission to find a new planet to evacuate to. For her performance, Jessica received a Critics Choice Award.
When will A Doll’s House be on Broadway?
Originally slated to open in London’s West End, A Doll’s House was set to begin rehearsals in March of 2020, when the world was thrown into turmoil with the onset of the COVID19 Pandemic. Now, after two years of waiting, A Doll’s House is set to open on Broadway for a special 16-week run at the Hudson Theatre, located at 141 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036. Tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Dec 6, 2022. Previews are set to begin on Feb 13, 2023.
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