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A true classic of modern drama, “Hedda Gabler” has long thrilled audiences with its spellbinding account of a woman of cunning and means trapped by the stultifying limits of the society she inhabits.
Hedda, recently married to the bookish and ineffectual academic George Tesman, feels increasingly constrained in a world that seems to have no use for her aspirations and her fierce streak of independence. Visits from her old schoolmate, Thea, and a long-ago love, Eilert, spin her staid existence into a series of schemes and manipulations that herald a possible escape from her life of caged desperation. Is Hedda ...Read More
A true classic of modern drama, “Hedda Gabler” has long thrilled audiences with its spellbinding account of a woman of cunning and means trapped by the stultifying limits of the society she inhabits.
Hedda, recently married to the bookish and ineffectual academic George Tesman, feels increasingly constrained in a world that seems to have no use for her aspirations and her fierce streak of independence. Visits from her old schoolmate, Thea, and a long-ago love, Eilert, spin her staid existence into a series of schemes and manipulations that herald a possible escape from her life of caged desperation. Is Hedda a shrewd, empowered and intelligent proto-feminist? Or is she merely a calculating, self-absorbed and cruel villain. Ibsen’s provocative play offers the curious possibility that she may be both. Paul Wagar’s new adaptation shifts the setting to the U.S. East Coast during the 1950’s, adding whole new layers to the intrigue.
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