'Shooting Hedda Gabler' Review
Don’t miss the world premier of a new adaptation by Nina Segal at the Kingston Rose Theatre, 29 Sep - 21 Oct 2023 says Richard Davies.
Address: 24-26 High St, Kingston upon Thames KT1 1HL.
Our verdict
An American actor has come to Norway to star in a new film version of Hedda Gabler, directed by Henrik, a narcissistic Scandinavian director obsessed with discovering artistic truth.
Unknown to her, he has cast her real life ex as her former lover. There’s no script. There’s a prop gun on stage loaded with blanks, yet still potentially lethal if misused.
What could possibly go wrong?
If Ibsen’s original Hedda Gabler was trapped in the conventions of a bourgeois marriage, this modern Hedda feels consumed by an exploitative film industry and celebrity culture.
As a former child star seeking artistic credibility after an unfortunate incident with a paparazzi, Hedda tries to stand up for himself. But as Henrik becomes more unhinged by his crazy obsessions, she quickly starts to unravel and spin out of control.
In writing Shooting Hedda Gabler, Nina Segal sought to explore why the destruction of female protagonists remains so popular a cultural theme.
In adapting Ibsen’s classic, now 130 years old, Segal has expertly drawn on many recent events: the Weinstein scandal, the Me Too movement, the Alec Baldwin fatal shooting on a film set – and not forgetting Nicole Kidmann withdrawing from Danish director, Lars von Trier’s ‘grand film trilogy’ after her experience of appearing in the opening film, Dogville.
Hedda is wonderfully played by Antonia Thomas, star of ABC’s The Good Doctor and the current Netflix series Lovesick. She has great emotional intensity, both fiery and vulnerable.
As the flawed genius Henrik, Christian Rubeck is totally believable.
The scene where he repeatedly forces Hedda to repeat her suicide scene while criticising her unconvincing death throes is almost unbearable to watch. Joshua James also stands out as Jorgen, Hedda’s naïve husband and there were fine supporting performances from Avi Nash as Ejlert and Anna Andresen as Berta.
Matilda Bailes also shone as Hedda’s friend Thea, while doubling as the movie’s risibly named ‘intimacy coordinator’, in this case an impossible as well as oxymoronic role.
Director Jeff James heads a talented creative team for this world premiere production.
The set designed by Rosanna Vize makes full use of The Roses’s capacious stage, although I did feel that some scenes played in the mezzanine felt curiously detached and that the claustrophobic atmosphere would better suit a smaller, more intimate theatre.
As a final thought, plays about plays place an extra burden on the audience of being familiar with the original. It’s a bit elitist to assume that everyone has seen Hedda Gabler, and even if you have, there’s the dilemma of whether you spoil it for yourself by doing a plot refresher on Wikipedia with your pre-theatre drink.
On balance, I’d say it’s well worth the extra effort to fully appreciate this ambitious and well-conceived play – and congratulations to the Rose Theatre for bringing this production to Kingston upon Thames!
