Francois VI, Prince de Marcillac (better known to posterity as La Rochefoucauld) and author of famous collections of maxims said that "No man deserves to be praised for his goodness unless he has the strength of character to be wicked. All other goodness is generally nothing but indolence or impotence of will”. This is, you feel, a position that General Gabler's daughter Hedda would have strongly supported. Only weak people fail to do bad things.
And things are so beautiful and promising from the beginning in this version of Ibsen's classic. An almost ethereal maid half scuttles, half floats in the darkness obviously preparing - we should say, unveiling - the house both for us and for its soon to arrive new owners. Anna Whitelock as Bertha managed this and several other "bits of business” extremely well. It was a clever and mysterious opening rather than going straight to the arrival of Juliana Tesman - Aunt Juju - which added hugely to the atmosphere of a piece which can sometimes be rather hectic and hectoring.
Karen Walker's Aunt Juliana was a sunny presence, promising a warm family welcome with very little of the overbearing and overcaring that the role often personifies. Her suppressed concern at clear slights and temper was cleverly conveyed by half looks and smiles which said more than the usual portrayal of mortal offence taken. But her sunshine is in vain as Hurricane Hedda blows in decrying fresh air, flowers and familial visits, and reserving her particular contempt for slippers, the beloved slippers of her less than beloved new husband Tesman. "They've got great sentimental value” he declares with more emotion than people usually reserve for their shoes. "Not for me ” Hedda shoots back with unnecessary and casual acidity. And things snowball from there. Old ‘friends' start appearing, first Thea Rysing/Elvstead, exiled and depressed in the provinces, brings an almost Chekovian note to proceedings - except that there is a hope on her horizon. A shining, resurrected hope. A comet in her sky. But comets sometimes crash to earth and a slighted Hedda resolving that if she can't have everything nobody else will have anything, resolves to divert the comet's course.
The comet is Eilert Loevberg a once brilliant, then drunk and defeated and now perhaps brilliant again writer who is we clearly feel is Tesman's superior as a man of the senses and a man of letters. Torn between intoxicating Hedda, reassuring Thea and (as we discover) diverting Madamoiselle Diana he chooses all three with disastrous and sweeping consequences. George Turner made for a dashing, vital and necessarily vulnerable Loevberg ("I told you things about myself that no one knew”), a man in thrall to all of his passions and gifts at the same time, a ten minute temperance follower who half a century later would probably have met his end driving a red sports car off a cliff, vine leaves in his hair. As it was he took a fatal dive into the choppy waters of the cabarets of Christiania diverted there by Robert Reeve's Judge Brack a man for whom the phrase "ulterior motive” could almost have been invented. A man of the law who reckons he is a law unto himself, he hopes spider like to draw all into his web disposing of some, so as to leave him with others : "All I want in the world ... is to be an important part of the lives ... of people who I help and advise ...”. Dripping with cynicism and self interest this was a commanding performance topped with the best rendering of the play's final line that I think I've ever heard.
In this mercurial and maladroit company it is sometimes difficult for poor old George Tesman to get a look in, often appearing to be a schoolboy lost amongst grownups, a librarian among hedonists but the part was cast, and Daniel Ball played it, as a grown up, a man with an unhealthy interest in Medieval handicrafts perhaps, but a man nonetheless whose devotion to family and truth are admirable in themselves and cast him as a real person caught up in a maelstrom he barely understands, but in the end, withstands. You felt he had the strength of character to carry on after the shocking end.
And what of Hedda herself? Roann McCloskey took on what is arguably one of the best parts for a woman in the whole theatrical canon and made it her own. It is one of the glories of the part that it can be done many different ways and still correctly but this version seemed to me to have just the right tone and energy. Unapologetic and scheming, vital and yet with a gift for conveying boredom that was a peverse joy to watch. There were so many highlights it would be difficult to pick them out but I would go for her showing her dull honeymoon photos to Loevborg, a picture of barely faked enthusiasm spilling over into teeth grinding resentment. And, secondly, right at the end when she asks if she can help Tesman and Thea re-assemble Loevborg's lost work and they brush her aside, she suddenly and convincingly looked like a little girl left out in the cold. Amazing, as Tesman would say. I always think that Thea is in some ways the most difficult part in the play to portray as she has to be distracted and compromised while, still seeming to disturb Hedda's superiority complex. Lisa Varty looked every inch like a woman terrified at risking all in a still conservative society and suitably fearful when cornered by the General's daughter . You could imagine her settling down with Tesman after a decent interval and some successful book launches.
Irena Pancer's dazzling costumes perfectly caught both character and period and as well as the excellent sound design, top mention must go to Leon Chambers' astounding "suicide” blood device at the end which genuinely made the audience jump and helped to improve Ibsen's somewhat difficult to handle ending. Roger Beaumont's set was beautiful and perfectly realised and ran in tandem with his direction which produced a well cast, terrifically acted evening in the theatre. The timing and teamwork were of a very high order. I can only take my hat off to all those in any way involved in the production. It had class written through it like a stick of rock.
As Richard Eyre notes in his introduction to his version of this play Ibsen stated his belief that "A woman cannot be herself in Modern Society”, however his Hedda gives it a good go whatever the cost. And we have been reaping the benefit ever since, especially with this production.
