Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen is considered by many to be the father of modern realistic theatre, with such masterworks as Ghosts, A Doll’s House and An Enemy of the People. Hedda Gabler was the first play he ever published and the role of Hedda is considered by some critics as one of the great dramatic roles, the “female Hamlet”. She is sometimes the idealistic heroine, a victim of circumstance, or a manipulative villain on par with Iago.
The action takes place in the Tesman home, just outside New York City. Hedda Gabler, a socialite, has just returned from her honeymoon with George Tesman, an aspiring young academic, reliable but not brilliant, who has combined research with their honeymoon. She reveals to the judge and audience in the course of the play that she has never loved him but has married him for reasons pertaining to the boring nature of her life, and it is suggested that she may be pregnant. When Eilert Lovborg, Tesman’s rival and Hedda’s old lover, returns the gears of their world fall out of place.
The Ark Theatre company, now in their tenth season in Los Angeles and in a new home at the historic Hayworth Theatre attempts to capture the enormity and somewhat controversial stance this place once took on a woman’s role in the world. Directed by Les Miller and adapted to a McCarthy Era 1950’s American setting by Artistic Director Paul Wagar, the play falls short of its lofty goal of creating an American Hedda.
The acting from some such as Darrel Guilbeau as George Tesman is very stylized, almost like watching an old episode of “Leave it to Beaver” on Nick At Nite, while others are either cartoony such as Simone Gad as Berta or simply too relaxed and causal for the piece and the period as Peter Colburn as Judge Brack. There is little constancy found in the work and it makes the play hard to follow or hard to connect too. The story is simple enough but there is little drive from the actors, save one.