Ibsen's: Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler

First published in 1890 and produced in 1891 to negative reviews, Hedda Gabler has become one of Henrik Ibsen's most remembered plays apart from A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, and the Master Builder. This is primarily due to the rigor of the acting role of Hedda Gabler. As a character, Hedda is at once a romantic feminist but also a manipulative, conniving villain. Hedda is neurotic, a child with a stormy ego. Her superego (represented by society and her married life) clashes with her id (her impulses and desires) in Freud's psychology. She is a tempest of a character, full of contradictions and subtext that makes playing her onstage a joy for any serious actress.

In the play Hedda is the wife of Jorgen Tesman, but has had an earlier love affair with her husband's rival, Lovborg. In a gentler, simpler age this sort of behavior was considered shocking and inappropriate. The ending of this play made people very uncomfortable at the time. Hedda's sociopathic traits caused an uproar when this play was first produced.

Other characters in the play include:

• Jørgen Tesman, Hedda's new husband; an academic
• Miss Juliane Tesman, Jørgen Tesman's aunt
• Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Jørgen's friend and Hedda's school rival
• Judge Brack, friend of the Tesmans; a judge (he represents law/order & moral society)
• Ejlert Løvborg, Jørgen's academic rival whom Hedda previously loved; a recovering alcoholic
• Berte, servant to the Tesmans and to Jørgen as a child

The setting takes place in the interior of a reception room (like a living room, it was meant to accommodate guests)

There are four acts: each act has only one scene. The set does not change, so it's just lights up and down to indicate time passing.

HOMEWORK: Please read The Master Builder & complete your play critique (due in Jan.) if you did not complete it this weekend; Please continue to write your play scripts.

Have a nice holiday break!