The Schwarzman Centre and Breach Theatre have announced the world premiere of Burning Down the House, a new production written by Ellice Stevens and Billy Barrett, running from 25 September to 10 October 2026 in Oxford.
Directed by Billy Barrett, the production revisits Henrik Ibsen’s seminal play A Doll’s House, shifting the spotlight to Laura Kieler, the writer and friend whose life story inspired the character of Nora.
The new play explores the relationship between biography and art, examining how Kieler’s personal experiences became the basis for one of theatre’s most iconic heroines without her knowledge or consent.
Drawing on extensive academic research by University of Oxford professor Kirsten Shepherd, research assistant Tzen Sam and literary translator Gaye Kynoch, the production incorporates translated letters, journals, articles and Kieler’s own response to Ibsen’s work, Men of Honour.
The story follows Kieler as she watches Ibsen’s A Doll’s House become an international sensation while her own life unravels in its wake.
Alongside the run of Burning Down the House, audiences will have the opportunity to experience a rehearsed reading of Kieler’s Men of Honour on 10 October, marking the first ever English-language presentation of the play in a new translation by Gaye Kynoch.
Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens of Breach said: “We’re delighted to be bringing Burning Down the House to the Schwarzman Centre, following such a fruitful collaboration. It feels very vital and right that the production starts its life in Oxford. Laura Kieler’s story taps into contemporary conversations surrounding the ethics of storytelling, explores the blurry line between creativity and inspiration and questions who has the right to tell what stories. The subject matter is complicated, murky and thrilling.”
Kirsten Shepherd, Professor of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Oxford, said: “As part of my ongoing academic work around Ibsen I have long been fascinated by the story behind A Dolls House, wanting to bring it out of the margins and footnotes of Ibsen studies. It’s a story that I think readers and audiences of Ibsen’s plays would find interesting, as well as deeply relevant to our own times. A major part of the story is Kieler’s own subsequent play Men of Honour, her attempt to regain agency over her life and work. I approached Breach to collaborate on making a play about this story because of their impressive catalogue of work that brilliantly interrogates historical representations on stage, through a documentary lens and innovative theatricality. It felt like the perfect fit to bring this radical, moving and edge-of-your-seat story to the stage. It’s been 5 years in the making, and I can’t wait to bring their new production of Burning Down The House to the Schwarzman Centre.
“One of the questions Ibsen and Kieler both explore in very different ways is what options were available to women at that time. Critics have long discussed Ibsen’s contribution to feminist theatre, portraying the problem of narrow roles for women in society repeatedly in his ground-breaking work. And yet, despite writing one of the world’s most sensational feminist dramas, Ibsen bristled at being called a feminist. He returned time and again in his work to topics such as the constraints of marriage, motherhood, and femininity, a rich dramatic seam that could be endlessly mined. It is intriguingly, disturbingly ironic that the making of A Doll’s House involved the appropriation of a real woman’s story, with dire consequences for her and her family for which, despite Laura repeatedly asking him to, he never publicly apologised. ‘I am not Nora,’ she insisted many times. Burning Down the House cracks open what she meant by that.”
The cast of devisers and performers includes Peter Clements, Sophie Steer, Ellice Stevens, Jacoba Williams and Yasser Zadeh.
The creative team includes Laura Hopkins, Moa Johansson, Will Monks, Leanne Pinder and Hugh Sheehan.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
