Anna Burnside reviews a riveting production of a classic play with a thrilling lead performance.
Nicole Cooper is munching her way through the meatiest roles in theatre like a relentless Pac-Man. Bard in the Botanics audiences have had the pleasure of her interpretations of everyone from Medea to Hamlet. Her Lady Macbeth has just been in New York.
Hedda Gabler was an obvious next choice for this stellar actor at the height of her powers.
Ibsen’s tragic heroine is too sparky and free spirited for the stilted society of 19th century Sweden. The grand home her people-pleasing husband thought her heart desired has become a carpeted prison. His hovering aunts, looking longingly at her stomach for signs of the next generation, are bourgeois and all too easy to offend. She’s bored rigid of her husband and his beloved 14th century.
Such a nuanced and volatile character needs an actor of Cooper’s abilities to do her justice. And in the intimate setting of the Kibble Palace, the audience can see every flicker of side-eye and hear every disdainful out breath.
We too see her go from imperious to manipulative in a heartbeat, lying on the floor having a tantrum, danger flirting, gleefully feeding her husband’s rival’s manuscript into the fire.
Sam Stopford does a great job as Mr Gabler, astonished that he has snagged such a prize, increasingly aware that he is not making her happy. Isabelle Joss does double duty as stuffy but well-meaning Aunt Julia and Hedda’s bullied schoolmate, Thea Elvsted.
James Boal and Graham Mackay-Bruce are equally convincing as male flies caught in Hedda’s dangerous web. Together they tell a story that is both a period piece and a tragedy that still works for the 21st century. Unfortunately.
Hedda Gabler performs as part of Bard in the Botanics’ summer season until July 6, 2024. For further details, please see their website.
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Photo by Tommy Ka-Ken Wan
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