Hedda Gabbler

Ruth Wilson in Hedda Gabbler. Image via National Theatre Live.

The best reason to see National Theatre Live’s production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabbler is to witness Ruth Wilson (Alice Morgan from Luther) playing one of the most famous roles in theatre. Performing Hedda Gabbler is something of a milestone for an actor and you can’t fault Wilson’s work here, trumpeted by The Telegraph as ‘the performance of the year.’

This production is directed by Ivo van Hove (who directed A View from The Bridge a couple of years ago for National Theatre Live) his spare approach allowing the stage to fill with claustrophobic tension. The characters relate through space and distance so when they’re physically close it can seem as though they’re grating painfully against each other.

This version of Hedda Gabbler is a translation by Patrick Marber of one of Ibsen’s pair of controversial plays about a woman captured by middle class social mores, the other one being, of course, A Doll’s House. Newly married to affable scholar Tesman (Kyle Soller), Gabbler is anguished by an essential despair of life, humanity and the intelligence of others, and is disconnected from everyone around her. Maid Berte (Éva Nagyar) is a constantly watching presence; her role being something along the lines of Hedda’s conscience. The warm hearted burgher Juliana is played by Kate Duchêne and the hapless-in-love Mrs Elvsted by Sinéad Matthews. Rafe Spall as Judge Brack pours a black smoke of sexual menace into the space. Hedda’s former lover is reformed alcoholic and writer Lovberg (Chukwudi Iwuji). When he reappears in her life, Hedda is reminded of her disappointment in him and proceeds to manipulate him in the bleak hope he will resist her.

At once contradictory, arrogant and abject, Hedda appears to most want an authentic action of nobility, from anyone really, including herself. Disdain and disgust emanate from her; she doesn’t have to look far for reasons to feel these things. Wilson’s Gabbler holds fury and deadness at the same time, her personal civil war is visible. When she staples bunches of flowers to the wall in rage, a creative, aesthetic impulse underpins her actions. Wilson maintains a combination of feeling throughout the play where, no matter what social self she projects, she could weep at any time. She holds tears back when she’s being feisty, cheeky or raging and lets them slide in private moments of despair, vulnerability and isolation. We see this in the glorious close-up of a National Theatre Live production; joy for the audience member.

The soundtrack manages to happily incorporate very familiar songs such as Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah and Waiting for the Ghost Train by Madness. Set is simple, one room containing a piano and sofas pushed against the wall to create a private space. Design is understated with a predominately beige-based colour scheme. Van Hove’s Hedda Gabbler does a fine job of modernising this tense, complex play and allowing its timelessness to glow, but it’s Wilson’s triumph.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Hedda Gabbler 

National Theatre Live
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Showing now in selected cinemas