Actress Rachel Griffiths returns to the Melbourne Theatre Company to portray Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, opening at the Fairfax, Victorian Arts Centre, on April 28.

Griffiths' previous work with the company includes last year's successful production of the comedy Sylvia. Her reputation beyond theatre has been established with her performance in the film Muriel's Wedding, for which she won an Australian Film Institute award. She also played a small role in My Best Friend's Wedding as a favour to her friend, director P.J.Hogan.

In interviews leading up to the opening of A Doll's House, Griffiths has stressed her personal and artistic commitment to feminism and social issues. Indeed she garnered much public attention for her controversial protest outside last year's opening of the Melbourne Crown Casino.

Frank McGuiness' adaptation of A Doll's House, which has found acclaim both on Broadway and in the West End, seeks to reaffirm the plays relevance in the 1990's. His other works include Someone Will Watch Over Me, and translations of Ibsen's Peer Gynt and Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Directed by Roger Hodgman, A Doll's House also features Marco Chiappi as Torvald Helmer. It opens April 28 and closes May 30. Bookings on (61-3) 136166. --By Russell Watson
Australia Correspondent