Creating a Graphic Representation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: An Interdisciplinary and Experimental Collaboration between a Performer and an Illustrator

Abstract

This article reflects the unique and innovative methodological approach taken in the development of PROYECTO NORA. This interdisciplinary and collaborative research project aimed to work through and into the intersections between illustration and theatre, with the aim of creating an illustrated book of the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen as an outcome of this process. Through the graphic transposition of Ibsen’s work our intention was to create a parallel story to the dramatic written text, enabling new viewpoints and perspectives. To achieve this, Carolina Schütte González and I explored the story through the use of the actress’s body to create the main female character, Nora. Through embodying Nora’s thoughts and feelings, we sought to expand upon and deepen our understanding of the character and the wider story. We documented, filmed and photographed the process of creating our own Spanish version of Ibsen’s text, and our innovative and emergent rehearsal process in which we created Nora’s movements, postures and gestures in hopes of uncovering and expressing thoughts, feelings and emotions that are unseen and unspoken throughout the text. During this five-week long process in Santiago, Chile, and against a backdrop of widespread protests and riots in the country, we created a unique collaborative methodology that travelled towards art through theatre resulting in the creation of a graphic transposition of Ibsen’s work.