“HEDDA GABLER” AN ENIGMA OF A WOMAN

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                                                        Thea and Hedda

As the daughter of a distinguished general, growing up in aprivileged environment, Hedda Gabler is accustomed to getting her ownway.  Used to ruling bymanipulation, she enjoys ridiculing those she views as inferior to her andlikes being amused at their expense. Feelings of boredom and a vast need for freedom fuel her everydayexistence.  Her beloved and bizarrecollection of pistols gives her the sense of danger she craves to experience.
To become intimately acquainted with this unique and utterlydisturbing creature, attend an unforgettable  performance of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” at the HartfordStage until Sunday, September 23.
As a psychological study, Hedda Gabler is an enigma, onethat verges on the edge of madness. Roxanna Hope is brilliant as the conflicted female who can’t find herplace in society as she experiments with the role that best serves her needs.  She is inspired and discontent,excitable and filled with disdain, highly emotional and easily distraught.  She burns to make a difference, todirect the destinies of those around her, even if they are destroyed in theprocess.
Returning from a six month honeymoon with her mild, admiringprofessor husband George (John Patrick Hayden), Hedda is dismissive andcritical of his loving Aunt Julia (Kandis Chappell) and has no use for her newservant Berte (Anne O’Sullivan) who has served George’s family for years.
Her interactions with an old school acquaintance Thea (SaraTophorn) whom she tormented in their youth and with a former lover Eilert (Sam Redford) revealher true evil inclinations, her jealous streak and her inability to recognizehappiness.  Judge Brack (Thomas JayRyan) is the only one in her world capable of calling Hedda’s bluff andrevealing her self-destructive center. Jennifer Tarver directs this turn of the twentieth century drama, set inNorway, with a new adaptation by Jon Robin Baitz, in a bold and decisive manner.
For tickets ($56.50-93.50), call the Hartford Stage, 50Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at www.hartfordstage.org.  Performances are Tuesday to Thursdayand Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Sundayand selected Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m.  The theater is introducing a Stage Pass for 18-27 year oldsfor the season for only $38, only until September 22..  Call the box office.
Come view the master puppeteer Hedda Gabler as she realizesher beauty is not a gilt-edged ticket to a forbidden world and, ultimately, she has nopower over anyone’s destiny, least of all her own.

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