I’ll venture this, though: Graham McDonald’s adaptation was intriguing. George Tesman (Hedda Gabler’s husband) is now a researcher in environmental matters, and his “rival” Lovborg is in the same field, except that he has found a “solution” to the upcoming dilemma of Dec. 21, 2012 (3 months away, in the play) – the solution, in manuscript form, is what he loses upon leaving Senator Brack’s party\/orgy. The environmental aspect is played up – camped-up, you might say – to the max: in McDonald’s version, the play is called “Hedda Gabler 2012 CE,” and subtitled, “An experimental pre-apocalyptic Henrik Ibsen classic.” Casey Austin<\/a> played the title role – she was very good, and reminded me of a young Katherine Hepburn<\/a>: that brilliant, dazzling, but icy smile, the perfectly patrician face with the darting, incredibly mobile eyes.<\/p>\n But what a psychopath the character of Hedda is…<\/p>\n I was relieved when she shot herself off-stage at play’s end, whereas the son (who came with me tonight) was annoyed that she didn’t get a proper comeuppance: he muttered something about how she should have had her ass handed to her and that Aristotle would not have been pleased… Which in turn got us on the subject of entertainment, and whether a play like this can ever be entertaining in any sense of the word. I suspect similar questions informed its rocky beginnings, although Wikipedia’s history of past productions show that it enjoyed greater favor as the 20th century progressed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.caseyaustin.cc\/images\/e.jpg\" "\\"Casey")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.theatreinconnu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/frontpageimg.png\" "\\"Theatre")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"