Toronto theatre's first must-see show of the year: 'A Doll's House' leaves you on the edge of your seat

But that’s what happens with director Brendan Healy’s gripping, propulsive production of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play “A Doll’s House,” the first must-see show of the year.

You likely already know the outlines of the play, which is famous for its shocking (in its day) conclusion. One fateful Christmas, Nora (Hailey Gillis), who’s happily married to banker Torvald Helmer (Gray Powell) and raising two children, finds herself in a dilemma.

Years earlier, she took out a loan to help pay for a restorative cure abroad for her sick husband. She’s kept that loan a secret, and has been gradually paying it back through money Torvald (now fully recovered) has given her for household expenses and little treats.

Now, on the eve of his promotion to bank manager, Nora finally feels like she can relax. Until, that is, the details of her contract come up via Nils Krogstad (Jamie Robinson), a lowly employee at Torvald’s bank who has a shady reputation and is about to be fired — by none other than Torvald.

In her 2023 adaptation, playwright Amy Herzog (“Belleville,” “Mary Jane”) has modernized some of the play’s fusty language, cut some scenes and streamlined the story for audience members more used to the pacing of bingeable TV than classical European drama.

Her adaptation debuted on Broadway in Jamie Lloyd’s stark, severe production, which opened with star Jessica Chastain wordlessly rotating on a plain stage with nary a prop in sight.

Canadian Stage artistic director Healy opts for a more traditional staging, but it is by no means old-fashioned. Gillian Gallow’s elegant set nods to the thick red velvet curtains of yore, opening up to reveal yet more plush red curtains as well as solid dark wood furnishings, this time suggesting the titular doll’s house.

By bordering the large Bluma Appel space with a frame, Gallow cleverly lets us view the proceedings at a remove, as if to emphasize the fact that we’re watching a 19th-century play with 21st-century eyes. One of the most exciting moments in the show comes when Nora walks outside the frame to view her life anew.

Nora, of course, is the doll, who’s been treated like a playful ornament all her life — first by her father and then by Torvald. She’s a product of her time, since in Ibsen’s day women were not allowed to have any sort of independence outside of their family, and needed a man’s endorsement to sign cheques.

Nora’s friend Kristine (Laura Condlln), who’s now a widow, provides a dramatic contrast with her, and Ibsen cleverly uses Kristine to dispense some first act exposition.

It’s to Healy’s credit that none of the establishing dialogue ever feels perfunctory. Nora’s chatter about buying presents, making ends meet and dressing up in a costume for an upcoming masquerade is filled with a heart-pounding urgency.

And Gillis, whose outfits (Gallow designed the costumes, too) reflect her changing mood, is thrilling throughout. Her behaviour with her modest friend Kristine is much different than that opposite the more powerful men around her: Torvald, whom she knows how to manipulate (up to a point), and family friend Dr. Rank (David Collins), with whom she shamelessly flirts.

She nails her extended final scene monologue with calm, open-eyed wisdom and acceptance.

Powell’s Torvald is blithely unaware of how condescending he is to his wife. When push comes to shove near the end, he explodes in a fury that is terrifying but also telling (look for Kevin Lamotte’s lighting and Deanna H. Choi’s sound design to heighten the emotion of this scene).

Robinson finds the right note of desperation to evoke his cloying, opportunistic Krogstad.

In her impressive career, Gillis has played many ingenues, like Nina in “The Seagull” and Natasha in the recent “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.” This role feels like a transition.

Now, just as with Nora’s famous exit from the play, she’s obviously ready to take on even more mature dramatic challenges.