Hedda Gabler

Synopsis

Classic drama of a woman consumed by her passions and driven to destroy all she should love. Hedda's recent and unexpected marriage to worthy but dull academic Tesman is threatened when she returns from honeymoon to find that Lovborg, a charismatic but dissolute previous admirer, has reformed his ways and published a best-selling masterpiece. His now-found success now threatens Tesman's own claim to a professorship - which is his only hope of supporting Hedda in the style she demands. Tesman is already in debt to another of Hedda's admirers, the dangerous Judge Brack. But suddenly events seem to put Hedda in a position to control all their destinies. This is a blistering examination of a woman in turmoil.

Our Review:

18 March 2009

If you decide to take on a classic drama, one that will be very familiar to most of your audience, you must approach it with caution. You must ask yourself why you are doing it and what new insights and nuances you can bring to a play that has been analysed and dissected by all the theatrical heavyweights of the past century.

Elsewhere Productions, Saga Theatre and director Dean Taylor have taken on such a classic, Hedda Gabler, and one is left wondering whether they have read any of the many critiques of the play that exist.

Hedda Gabler is a complex psychological drama revolving around a frustrated and caged tiger of a woman who yearns for romance, passion and beauty, however she has had to settle for a pragmatic compromise and a loveless marriage to a crashing bore of an academic.

Her frustrations and jealousies drive her to callously engineer the destruction of a man she once loved and whose suicide she hopes will fulfil her need to have inspired a t...

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Latest User Review

Ian Rogers, Phili - 23 March 2009:

This was a well acted ensemble piece with an interesting setting in the 1950's. I'm a fan of the play and have seen it many times and was pleasantly surprised to see adherence of the text and full nuances being played by a very good cast....

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