Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play, A Doll’s House was greeted by a storm of outcry and controversy when it was first staged. In A Doll’s House, the protagonist Nora, a housewife and mother, comes to the realisation that she has never been able to develop as a human being as she’s been constrained by being seen and treated as a little more than a sweet little doll, initially by her father and subsequently by her husband. The play ends with Nora deciding that the only way she can grow as a human being and break free of the social constraints objectifying her, is for her to leave the family home, including her children.
With important victories this year for the LGBT community in Ireland, it was with an air of celebration and progress that an estimated 25,000 marched in the Dublin Pride Parade this June.
The issue of racism has reared its ugly head as it recently made news headlines. The conviction of Stephen Lawrence’s killers gave us a sinister reminder of the worst consequences of racism. Just as with the brutal murder of Toyosi Shittabey in 2010, we must use these incidents as a wake-up call to stamp out the possibility of such horrific tragedies happening.