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Hedda Gabler (2004 & 2006)

Hedda Gabler (2004 & 2006)

Cate Blanchett as: Hedda Gabler

Directed by: Robyn Nevin
Adapted by: Andrew Upton (Play by Henrik Ibsen)
Play run: 27 July – 26 September 2004 (opened on 27 July 2004)
Venue: The Wharf at Sydney Theatre Company
* The play had its New York City in 2006.

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Andrew Upton has unravelled the mystery of Ibsen’s masterpiece and constructed a psychological thriller of cinematic intensity and power. His superb adaptation gives Australian readers a fresh and exciting insight into one of the great dramatic works of modern literature.

Cast:

Cate Blanchett as Hedda Gabler
Hugo Weaving as Judge Brack
Aden Young as Ejlert Lovborg
Anthony Weigh as Jorgen Tesman
Julie Hamilton as Julle Tesman
Annie Byron as Berte
Justine Clarke as Thea Elvsted

Creatives:

Costume design by Kristian Fredrikson
Set design by Fiona Crombie
Lighting design by Nick Schlieper
Sound design by Paul Charlier

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Quotes from Cate Blanchett

“What for me was most interesting about Hedda was the sense people have that she is a hysterical neurotic because she doesn’t actually love any of the men onstage with her. Which presupposes that one should love them simply because they’re there. Her love life isn’t her entire life; when Lövborg keeps saying it was love between them, she says it wasn’t just that, it was the indescribable, ephemeral Other…” (Vogue, December 2004)
“There are so many clichés about her [Hedda Gabler]. Henry James—what did he say? Something like, ‘It’s a study of an exasperated woman.’ And then Freud said she’s the true hysteric, with this enormous antipathy toward sex. And so you’re dealing with a series of clichés. But if you butt those up against one another, the friction that’s exerted is really exciting.” (New York Magazine, February 2006)
On when she took on the role after giving birth to her second son: “I was still breast-feeding and was in a very maternal place. I was actually very worried because I thought, This is the least maternal character ever!” (Sydney Morning Herald, August 2009)
“For Blanche, the truth is mortal. I don’t believe she is mad. I believe she’s in horrible agony, and I believe she makes her own ending.” (The Washington Post via SMH, November 2009)
On Robyn Nevin: “She has a very clear internal metronome: the text, the text, the text. To that end she is very big on development of new works and ushering them in. The only times I’ve seen her flustered is with a disappointment in an actor’s unwillingness to break habits or dig deep – to be brave in the rehearsal room. Her rehearsal rooms – like the best I’ve been in – are open, fluid and focused on what each actor needs to realise the best they can offer.” (Sydney Morning Herald, February 2006)

Quotes from Others

Andrew Upton:
— “The emphasis in the original is that Hedda is petrified of scandal, which doesn’t hold that much water anymore. And you can set the play back in the time that it’s set, as Robyn did, but if the audience isn’t aware of how dire her situation is, then it’s just a woman playing games with other people … so I weighted the play to be more about entrapment … so there’s a line which is something like ‘there’s nothing more isolating than being trapped in someone else’s life’ … that’s a line that I wrote that is not in the Ibsen, and there’s not even a sense of being there in the Ibsen.”
Kristian Fredrikson:
— “What Cate was looking for [in her costumes] was not what would make her beautiful but what her character would wear. The whole thing became a character study; we went through the history of Hedda, how she would spend her days. It’s the closest I have worked with an actress, and my favourite costumes.”

Selected Reviews

Excerpts from selected reviews.

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney) — “The steadfast Hedda’s reputation precedes her and the sheer dent of her personality is revealed in the uneasy anticipation of those who wait and stand on ceremony. Blanchett, who emerges like an unwelcome intruder, is marvellously mischievous and mean in the role. A good deal has been made of the movie star’s return to the stage, and to the very space where Judy Davis unleashed Ibsen’s tough, sad, excitable creature in 1986. Not unreasonably, expectations are high.
But Blanchett’s sensuality, presence, wit and vocal command are such that the complexity and startling paradoxes of Hedda – the anger and the ennui, the desperation and the desire, the affection and contempt – become completely natural and fascinating to behold.
In this economical and fluent adaptation by Andrew Upton, Ibsen’s great 1890 play sharply reveals Hedda’s struggle to adjust to a drab married life and her romantic fall. It shows her inability to break the shackles of convention. Thank God for the imagination, she seems to be saying at every shrewdly engineered yet surprising turn.
Blanchett is breathtakingly poised as she attempts to control her destiny and make for herself the life she demands. Hedda’s decisions and liberties have ill-fated consequences, not just on the people around her. Freedom takes its toll.
Robyn Nevin’s staging is carefully measured and assured. It is well served by Kristian Fredrikson’s splendidly tailored costumes and Fiona Crombie’s spacious wooden-floored digs. Each act emerges from darkness, framed by Alan John’s music of battle, restlessness and foreboding. It may not be the most boldly original staging in the world – in places the intensity is too studied – but there’s no doubting the polish of the strong, committed ensemble or the energy and depth of Blanchett’s great performance.
In essence, it is an absorbing, multi-hued character study. Watching Blanchett, I was reminded of Arthur Miller’s loving words about theatre. “It’s a great, great human adventure. Imagine having a human being stand up on a platform and mesmerise an audience and sometimes even illuminate something for them. You don’t need machinery. It’s a very primitive art. That’s the beauty of it.”
Variety (Sydney) — “Months after giving birth to her second child, Blanchett appears strong, energized and more assured than ever. Her embodiment of the difficult title role is impeccable. Her coltish striding across the stage, her shallow veneer of calm over deep-seated nervous tension and sarcastic asides, are executed with perfect pitch and tone.
But the real strength of her multilayered performance is her ability to click with the cast and ensure every performance matches her own. Every thesp ably keeps pace with Blanchett; her interplay with Hugo Weaving, Justine Clarke and Queensland Theater Company alum Anthony Weigh are particularly strong. As Julle Tesman, Julie Hamilton’s obsequious deference to Hedda was a joy to watch.
“Hedda Gabler” is STC’s best production in years. Director Nevin, who has performed the role of Hedda, brings an assuredness to her direction and obviously shares the cast’s delight in the excellent new adaptation by Andrew Upton, Blanchett’s husband.”
TheaterMania (New York) — “The stunningly beautiful Blanchett commands the stage with a casual ease, displaying Hedda’s arrogance, boredom, and her penchant for manipulation. Yet the actress is equally adept at capturing the character’s sense of humor; her comic timing is impeccable, and a slight shift in her vocal intonation has the audience roaring with laughter on more than one occasion. Her non-verbal mannerisms are also expressive, conveying volumes with a simple gesture or a slight shrug of her shoulders. Blanchett shades her performance with subtleties; she delves deeply into Hedda’s contradictions and insecurities, exposing the fear and jealousy that drives many of her actions — including the decisive one that ends the play.
The production features a terrific new adaptation by Andrew Upton that is true to Ibsen’s original while making the language seem both contemporary and timeless.”
New York Times (New York) — “In the title role of the Sydney Theater Company’s visiting production of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” which runs through March 26 in an appropriately tempestuous new adaptation by Andrew Upton, Ms. Blanchett is giving roughly a dozen of the liveliest performances to be seen this year, all at the same time.
…Then there are moments that are drawn with such quirky and startlingly perceptive immediacy that you feel that Ms. Blanchett could be the greatest Hedda of all time. In the first scene, for example, when it dawns on Hedda that Auntie Julle suspects she is pregnant, Ms. Blanchett recoils just a fraction and her face is briefly but damningly shadowed by a look of entrapment. That image will haunt me for years, as will that of this Hedda clasping her hand over her mouth, her eyes wan and red, as she realizes how wrong her idealistic schemes have gone. And just watch her abject, lost expression as Judge Brack paws her surreptitiously and proprietarily toward the play’s end.
Anthony Minghella, who directed Ms. Blanchett in her small but stunning role in the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999), has gone on record with his belief that she can do absolutely anything as an actress. This performance confirms his trust, in a way. Even allowing for this production’s take on its heroine as a mighty swirl of contradictions, Ms. Blanchett still provides us with enough material for several complete Hedda Gablers. It’s up to you to piece together, in the editing room of your mind, the Hedda of your dreams.”

Trivia & Facts

A documentary, In the Company of Actors (2007) by Ian Darling, featuring the cast and creatives during their rehearsals to the opening night in New York was released by Shark Island Institute. The film and study guide package was donated to English, Drama and Media departments in all secondary schools across Australia with support from the Caledonia Foundation.
Cate Blanchett’s US stage debut.
The play had its New York run at Brooklyn Academy of Music from 28 February to 26 March 2006.
Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving have worked together in TV series, film, and theatre: Bordertown (1995); The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), Little Fish (2005), The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014); Hedda Gabler (2004-06), Uncle Vanya (2010-12).
Cate Blanchett won her first Helpmann Awards, for Best Female Actor in a Play, in 2005 for her performance as Hedda Gabler.
In Rake (2014), Cate Blanchett cameoed in a scene with Elizabeth Debicki and Aden Young who both worked with her in the theatre, Debicki in The Maids (2013-14) and Young in Hedda Gabler (2004 & 2006).