A Doll's House (Danish and ; also translated as A Doll House) is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month. The play is set in a Norwegian town circa 1879. The play concerns the fate of a married woman, who at the time in Norway lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world, despite the fact that Ibsen denied it was his intent to write a feminist play. It was a great sensation at the time, and caused a "storm of outraged controversy" that went beyond the theatre to the world of newspapers and society. In 2006, the centennial of Ibsen's death, A Doll's House held the distinction of being the world's most performed play that year. UNESCO has inscribed Ibsen's autographed manuscripts of A Doll's House on the Memory of the World Register in 2001, in recognition of their historical value. The title of the play is most commonly translated as A Doll's House, though some scholars use A Doll House. John Simon says that A Doll's House is "the British term for what [Americans] call a 'dollhouse. Egil Törnqvist says of the alternative title: "Rather than being superior to the traditional rendering, it simply sounds more idiomatic to Americans." List of characters Nora Helmer – wife of Torvald, mother of three, is living out the ideal of the 19th-century wife, but leaves her family at the end of the play. Torvald Helmer – Nora's husband, a newly promoted bank manager, professes to be enamoured of his wife but their marriage stifles her. Dr. Rank – a rich family friend (named "Peter Rank" in Michael Meyer's translation). He is terminally ill, and it is implied that his "tuberculosis of the spine" originates from a venereal disease contracted by his father. Kristine Linde – Nora's old school friend, widowed, is seeking employment (sometimes spelled Christine in English translations). She was in a relationship with Krogstad prior to the play's setting. Nils Krogstad – an employee at Torvald's bank, a single father, he is pushed to desperation. A supposed scoundrel, he is revealed to be a long-lost lover of Kristine. The Children – Nora and Torvald's children: Ivar, Bobby, and Emmy (in order of age). Anne Marie – Nora's former nanny, who gave up her own daughter to "strangers"