Premiere US Premiere
Production Language German
Country of Origin Germany
Description A provocative, unsparing indictment of the bourgeoisie when it was first performed in 1891, Hedda Gabler still retains its capacity to shock. Ibsen's spoiled, self-absorbed heroine responds to her dull new marriage and failed upper-class ambitions with such viciousness and malignant disregard, that within one day she has destroyed everyone around her and, ultimately, herself.
Her tragedy is timeless, and as re-envisioned by vanguard German director Thomas Ostermeier, it is startlingly immediate. In a hyper-modern apartment, the austerity of Hedda's environment somehow makes her actions all the more horrific. As in his equally audacious 2004 Next Wave debut, Nora (A Doll's House), Ostermeier effectively distills the work's raw emotional core to devastating effect.
Identifier 2006f.00042
