A Doll's House, Men of Honour, When We Dead Awaken

'Oh, be not afraid. I am cast out of society, but you, is it not true, you walk around as a man of honour? What more do you want?' (Laura Kieler, Men of Honour) Very few readers and audiences know that Ibsen's iconic feminist drama A Doll's House was built upon the real-life story of a woman called Laura Kieler, who was his friend and fellow writer. Her life fell apart when A Doll's House came out and the world saw her deeply private life splashed across its stages. With tremendous determination and perseverance, she managed to recover from the trauma that Ibsen's play caused her, and channelled her pain into a successful play of her own called (pointedly) Men of Honour. The play, performed in Copenhagen in 1890, caused great debate and fierce controversy. Ibsen eventually responded to her play by likewise writing a drama: When We Dead Awaken, his final work. This new edition traces the conversation between Ibsen and Kieler through these plays, across almost two decades and brings