84 replies to this topic

[paultheatre]

So, Sheridan Smith as Hedda.  Thoughts?

[young offender]

It has only been a couple of years since the last major revival. I saw Adrian Noble’s touring production in Oxford, with Rosamund Pike in the lead - it never got the rumoured West End transfer, perhaps because the reviews were somewhat mixed. If Sheridan Smith can get the critics raving again, though, I can see this being a strong draw for a two month run.

[Epicoene]

Can't see this play working well in the barn that is the Old Vic irrespective of the casting.

[Honoured Guest]

Maggie Smith played Hedda in the NT's production which transferred to the Old Vic in 1970.

[Latecomer]

Sheridan=fantastic. May even stretch to an overpriced ticket....when I see the reviews...

Saw the production with Rosamund Pike in Oxford...distinctly average, no wonder it never got to the West End!

[mallardo]

I thought Pike was good.  The production sucked.   I can't imagine Sheridan Smith in the role but it should be interesting.

[wickedgrin]

Sheridan Smith was heartbreakingly wonderful in Flare Path - and her success in that role has clearly landed her this. It will stretch her but that is clearly what she wants.

[mallardo]

I loved her in Flare Path too but that character - the fragile, stiff upper lip working class girl - was more or less in her comfort zone.  The haughty and fatally ambitious Hedda is something else.  She will definitely be a different Hedda and maybe that's the point. I'm actually very intrigued by the whole idea.

[Lynette]

Didn't Eve Best play the role at The Almeida? Brilliantly I recall or am I thinking of someone else and a different play and another theatre?

[armadillo]

Lynette, on 12 June 2012 - 05:27 PM, said:

Didn't Eve Best play the role at The Almeida? Brilliantly I recall or am I thinking of someone else and a different play and another theatre?

She did and it transferred to the WE (IIRC I saw it somewhere on Shaftesbury Ave). Iain Glen was the judge and a not-yet-famous Benedict Cumberbatch was Tesman.