With a distinguished father, a reputable husband, and a respectable home, Hedda’s life is beyond reproach, anything else would be scandalous. For excitement she turns to the lives of others; enchanting and beguiling them, bending them to her will, determined to be a woman of consequence, whatever the consequences.
Ibsen's classic drama of passion and desperation follows a dangerously irresistible woman as she rushes headlong towards a disaster that will embrace all those who have fallen fatally under her spell.
Although considered and intelligent in its conception, the Lyceum’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler is too uneven to convince entirely.
Richard Eyre's new version of Ibsen's classic is contemporary and well constructed.
Nicola Daley shines as Hedda in the Lyceum’s new production of the Ibsen classic.
In short, this production of Hedda Gabler is a non-traditional re-imagining of a classic piece of realist drama, well thought out, and well worth a trip to the theatre.
This is a classic play. Its themes of freedom, constraint and sacrifice still resonate, but this production, despite much that’s good in it, is ultimately too frail a vehicle to carry the weight of all the ideas.
An impressive, if not flawless, Hedda Gabler, then, and one which deserves to be remembered for a brilliant and affecting performance in the title role.
Under the inspired direction of Amanda Gaughan, who introduces a smattering of overtly stylised touches to great effect, the whole production is realised as the sort of complete, congruent and coherent whole that Hedda could never even dream of.
Despite some strong work from the supporting cast, this is a Hedda Gabler that finally compels us either to sneer along with Ibsen’s conflicted heroine, or to hate her so heartily that we long to shoot her ourselves.
The real revelation is Daley’s multilayered performance in the lead, and it is appropriate that in Eyre’s version – unlike Ibsen’s – it is Hedda who is granted the last word before the curtain comes down.
Amanda Gaughan’s period production does fair justice to this after-party drama for a Macbeth-like couple.
Hedda Gabler plays 19th century struggles out on the modern stage
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Friday March 20, 2015, until Saturday April 11, 2015. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk