REVIEW: HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen at Jack Studio Theatre 3 – 14 October 2023

‘A study in sublimated frustration and simmering rage, it’s hard for audiences to tear their eyes away from Hedda Gabler.’ ★★★★

Hedda Gabler is a towering edifice of a play, up there with Hamlet as an all-time great. Since 1890, it’s been on one stage or another constantly across Europe and the Atlantic, absorbing, scandalising and perplexing theatre goers across generations. Republished and reinterpreted over fifty times with several film versions, this foundation stone of modern theatre has a reputation that is both threatening and alluring.

Transferred from sell-out performances at the Bread & Roses, the cast and creative team recreate this play confidently and ‘beautifully’ to use Gabler’s favourite adjective. Hedda Gabler, our anti-heroine, while intensely unlikeable, has a magnetic charisma that draws others to her dark soul. Played as imperious and spiky by Kelsey Short (also co-producer alongside director Scott Jones) this Hedda refuses to be touched but doesn’t think twice about physically handling others.

 Of proud bearing and high expectations, this general’s daughter returns newly married with her amiable but limited academic husband, George Tesman to the home he has secured with financial help from his loving aunt, Juliana (a welcome return to the stage for Caroline Edwards) When Tesman’s expected promotion is put into question by the arrival of Eilert Løvborg, a professional rival and former love interest of Hedda, the ratchet turns and tension mounts.

Hedda, bored by her newly married status and stultified by the domestic sphere longs for more. This cruel and commanding mischief maker is a study in sublimated frustration and simmering rage as the tragedy sewn into her character, spreads its seeds and exquisitely unfurls its poisonous leaves. Hedda has been described as a feminist who resists expected roles of wifedom and motherhood. Her desire for self-determination within the confines of her prescribed life drives her forward, scattering victims in her wake and building to a grisly, shocking conclusion that is surreal and jaw-dropping in equal measure.

This incisively edited 90-minute version with no interval, produced by Fish Don’t Matter Theatre Company, brings contemporary direction and performances to this classic theatre. From the narratively powerful use of lighting to the unsettling use of piano music that ranges from soft and sweet to wild and uncontrolled, to the stylized choreography of the cast, this production confidently conjures this tale of cowardice, courage, life, death and beauty as well as conveying a whole range of psychological and emotional states.  The sight of some prominently placed, anachronistic slippers, the symbol of George’s stolid values, were the only thing that took me out of the moment. They were clearly modern and conflicted with the rest of the costumes and set which were generally in keeping with the period but in the grand scheme this is a small thing. 

For the uninitiated, a play like Hedda Gabler can bring some trepidation. If unfamiliar with the text, a viewer might wonder, am I up to such a giant? Will I get it? What if it’s a fusty old-time piece? What if I find it boring, dull or irrelevant? As an Ibsen virgin, it was most satisfying to have my primal experience of Norwegian noir at the Jack studio in South London’s Brockley Jack. Any apprehension I might have had was allayed within seconds. The only way to understand why this play has stood the test of time is to see and experience this powerful interpretation.

Images; Robert Piwko Photography.

 

HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen, Translated by Edmund Gosse and William Archer at JACK STUDIO THEATRE 03 – 14 October 2023

Box Office https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/hedda-gabler/

Produced by Fish Don’t Matter Theatre Company

Directed by Scott James

Lighting Design by Charlie Hills

Cast

Kelsey Short as Hedda Gabler

Michael Flanagan as George Tesman

Megan McGery as Thea Elvstead

River Norris as Eilert Løvborg

Michael Martin as Judge Brack

Caroline Edwards as Miss Tesman

Jackie Mitchell as Berta

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf