Daily Times

Jessica Chastain counts her performance as Nora in the current Broadway revival of “A Doll’s House” to be one of the “hardest things” she has ever done. Coming from the actor who has played televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and country singer Tammy Wynette, that’s saying a lot. The two-hour play was so emotionally draining to perform, she said, that she wanted to skip the final bow. “I’ve come out for the curtain call, not ready for the curtain call, and that’s been difficult,” Chastain said. But after speaking with director Jamie Lloyd, she rallied and decided it was important for the audience. “There are times I go out there and I’m like, trying to hold it together. And I’m still feeling like the play course through my veins,” she said. The Oscar-winning actor is currently appearing in a limited run of the groundbreaking 1879 Henrik Ibsen play that challenged the sacredness of marriage, gender roles, and women’s rights. It was so controversial for its time that many actors would not perform the play’s ending. Chastain saw the subject as a worthy reason to return to the stage because it still resonates today with conversations about representation and authenticity. Earlier this week, Chastain sat down with the Associated Press for a special interview where she spoke about the emotional demands of the play, the importance of examining people’s struggles, and what she’s thinking about, sitting on stage when the audience enters the theater.