Nora

As of New Year’s Day, Torvald Helmer will be bank director. This long awaited promotion earns him a significant pay rise and an ideal social standing. A reason to celebrate for Helmers, as it promises good times for Helmer’s three kids and his wife Nora, whom he calls his »squirrel«, his »little lark«, and who is guarding an explosive secret. Premiere in 1879. Resounding success. Emancipation. Question mark. 

The authors Sivan Ben Yishai, Gerhild Steinbruch and Ivna Žic have overwritten this story from new perspectives - based on an idea by the Münchner Kammerspiele. Bourgeois theatre thriller meets thoughts on Nora’s privileged situation, meets the perspectives of Nora’s adult children and meets the feminist view of Kristine Linde, originally a secondary character. »Imagine that and forget all sentences you have heard from others.«

Content notes

Congratulations, Jana Vetten!
For her production of »Nora«, the director has been awarded the theatre prize DER FAUST 2025 in the category »Directing Drama«.

Jury Statement
With her production of »Nora« at the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg, Jana Vetten succeeds in creating an impressively contemporary interpretation of a seemingly familiar story. She liberates Ibsen’s character from the museum-like gestures of the classic and instead shows a woman who reclaims her own story. Vetten works precisely with rhythm, images and breaks: intimacy and exaggeration, comedy and shock are closely intertwined. She places great trust in the ensemble and creates spaces in which the actors‘ performances can shine. The production reveals how subtle – and how persistent – the mechanisms of roles, expectations and dependencies are. With a clear, intelligent eye, Vetten brings »Nora« into the present and re-examines the question of freedom. A production of great sensitivity, formal clarity and emotional power.

The award ceremony took place on 15 November 2025 at Theaterhaus Stuttgart.
The German Theatre Award DER FAUST 2025 is organised by the German Stage Association and the German Academy of Performing Arts in cooperation with the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States and honours outstanding stage artists in various categories.