Jesse
Green

March 9, 2023

That we see these options so starkly is because everything else is pared away. Herzog’s dialogue, pruning the social floweriness and conversational whorls of Ibsen’s naturalism, gets right to the point of every line, leaving the text raw and red, as if exfoliated.

Brittani
Samuel

March 9, 2023

In this boldly envisioned, yet minimalistically executed production directed by Jamie Lloyd and adapted by Amy Herzog, silence and simplicity are constantly at play.

Adam
Feldman

March 9, 2023

When this strategy doesn’t work, it can leave you unsatisfied, without even the material comforts of an old-fashioned production to enjoy. But in the new Broadway revival of A Doll’s House, it slices clean through you. The superb Jessica Chastain plays Nora Helmer—the seemingly happy young wife and mother of Henrik Ibsen’s protofeminist 1879 social drama, who must learn to stop knitting the wool that gets pulled over her eyes—and Jamie Lloyd’s staging zeroes in on her with relentless focus.

Greg
Evans

March 9, 2023

But anyone willing to give in to the wily charms and stealthy spell of this stark, thoughtful production will find a singular Broadway experience, a smart and captivating experiment in the power of the voice to transport us to places both far away and deep inside the human psyche.

Jackson
McHenry

March 9, 2023

If only the rest of the production lived up to — or, really, departed from — that first image. Lloyd puts Chastain in that chair, then keeps her there almost all evening.

Benjamin
Lindsay

March 9, 2023

Other than the music and Chastain’s extremely emotive performance, Jamie Lloyd’s direction is a parody of minimalism in the theater.

David
Rooney

March 9, 2023

Mounted with daring austerity even by the usual pared-down standards of director Jamie Lloyd, the production finds scorching intensity in stillness.

New York Daily News

Chris
Jones

March 9, 2023

If you are a fan of Chastain’s work, this is not something to miss, if only to watch how she builds outwards from inside a theatrical, and marital, box.

Juan A.
Ramirez

March 9, 2023

With its lead confined to a chair for almost all of its near-two-hour runtime, this misguided, if compelling, staging is practically post-apocalyptic. Its motion restricted and its urgency mostly cooled to a whisper, the effect is closer to that of an audiobook than to the proto-feminist play which prompted a critic to famously describe its door-slamming ending as one that “reverberated across the roof of the world.”

Johnny
Oleksinski

March 9, 2023

Usually stripping a play down to the bare essentials — simple costumes, a few chairs — renders it rawer and more authentic. Not so in the uneven revival of “A Doll’s House,” starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, that opened Thursday night on Broadway. Despite an absorbing performance from the “Eyes of Tammy Faye” actress, British director Jamie Lloyd’s staging is as sterile as an operating room.

Zachary
Stewart

March 9, 2023

Tim
Teeman

March 9, 2023

This critic will only say Lloyd’s clever inversion of this legendary stage moment is not only perfect for this A Doll’s House, but a visually stunning, surprising way to end any Broadway show. It may even become a New York tableau to behold night in, night out. How appropriate it’s Chastain piloting it—a quintessentially Hollywood ending to a stellar performance.

Matt
Windman

March 9, 2023

Here’s looking forward to Lloyd’s next revival of a play that no one thinks they need to see again.

Entertainment Weekly

Leah
Greenblatt

March 9, 2023

Whether there’s still fresh air to be found up there is a question this Doll, beyond its strenuously modern dress, mostly punts: The House has been remodeled, but the foundation rests.

New York Theatre Guide

Joe
Dziemianowicz

March 9, 2023

The new Broadway production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain is laser-focused, laid bare, and simply stunning. As always, the play tells the story of Nora Helmer, a wife and mother who finally summons the power to stand tall on her own two feet.