Displaying items by tag: HEDDA GABLER

‘Hedda Gabler’ has mystified audiences for generations, as this was certainly Ibsen’s intention when creating this endlessly fascinating character. The Artistic Home transforms the Den Theatre into 1890s Norway for their production of Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe’s 2015 adaptation of ‘Hedda Gabler’. Under Monica Payne’s direction, this contemporary-voiced retelling is diabolically humorous.

Any production of ‘Hedda Gabler’ is only as good as their Hedda. In Brookelyn Hebert, Monica Payne has a frighteningly self-assured Hedda who is insatiably fun to watch. Flanked by Todd Wocjik as Jorge Tesman and John Mossman as Judge Brack, Hebert plays both the conqueror and conquered with hot tempered fluidity.

Ibsen, like Chekhov, helped usher in a new era of modern theatre that would inspire 20th century playwrights like Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. With focus on the doldrums of a waning aristocracy, Ibsen captures the everyday hopes and disappointments of his characters in scenes that feel as relevant today as when they were written.

What makes ‘Hedda Gabler’ unique is the myriads of ways a director and an actress can approach the title role. Ibsen’s play is somewhat vague so that audiences and theater makers are free to go with their own interpretation of what motivates Hedda.

In this new version by Mark O’Rowe, many of the Easter eggs Ibsen drops throughout the play are further expanded upon so that audiences have even more context for Hedda’s past and present. In Rowe’s version, Hedda is quicker to anger and more self-aware than in previous iterations. An angrier Hedda shows the brewing hostility of a woman trapped by society, which makes her downfall all the more tragic.

Time seems to fly with O’Rowe’s modern language. Instead of literary innuendo, characters are free to discuss sexuality and substance abuse with more directness. Two and a half hours can feel long for a classic melodrama, but this script has a lot of juicy scene work to keep audiences on the edge of their seat, even if they know what’s going to happen next.

Plays like ‘Hedda Gabler’ do exactly what good plays should, and that is to ask why. As mentioned before, Ibsen purposefully did not provide just one reason for Hedda’s actions, rather he planted many seeds so that nobody can really be sure, opening the door for riveting conversations.

The Artistic Home’s production of ‘Hedda Gabler’ is a good reminder of why classics should be seen every so often. Though the modernized script takes some interesting liberties, and can become a bit meandering in parts, overall Ibsen’s points are well preserved. However, it’s fairly unlikely that high society folks would speak in expletives the way they are in O’Rowe’s script. Still, this production is faithful in its interpretation of the limits of courage. In the end, despite Ibsen’s Easter eggs, this is a play about one woman’s courage to go against the grain of society.

Through March 23 at The Artistic Home at The Den. 1331 N Milwaukee Ave. 773-697-3830

The Artistic Home will present the Chicago premiere of Mark O'Rowe's adaptation of Ibsen's HEDDA GABLER. This pioneering work of a woman trapped by societal expectations has sparked debate and intrigue for over a hundred years. Ibsen's classic gets a refreshing update in O'Rowe's translation. The Irish Times said "O'Rowe's superb and subtle new version is similarly contained, finessing Ibsenite naturalism into meticulously wrought, unfussy exchanges."
 
HEDDA GABLER will be directed by Monica Payne, longtime Artistic Home collaborator, and Associate Professor of Acting and Directing at Tulane University in New Orleans. Payne says, "this play feels as prescient now as it did when it was first performed in 1891. A woman in a loveless marriage, wanting to break free from society's rigid, brutal expectations. Hedda is bold, strong-willed, and unable to bear the small life that she is required to live."
 
A debate over Hedda Gabler has spanned generations.  Katy Hayes of the Irish Independent, in her review of O'Rowe's translation, called Hedda "the most intriguing female character ever created for the stage."
 
Press opening is Thursday, February 20 at 7:30 pm in The Den Theatre at 1331 N. Milwaukee Avenue.
 
The cast, announced today, includes Jeff Award winner Brookelyn Hébert* in the title role of Hedda. Jeff Award winner Todd Wojcik* will perform as Hedda's husband Jorge Tesman. Judge Brack will be played by John Mossman*, Jeff Award winner for his direction of The Artistic Home's REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT. The cast also includes Laura Coleman* as Berte, Ariana Lopez* as Thea, Dan Evashevski as Lovborg, and Jeff Award nominee Lynne Baker as Aunt Julle. Understudies will include Elizabeth Stam (u/s Thea), Delia Ford (u/s Berte, Aunt Julle), Martin Tebo (u/s Tessman), and others to be named.

The production team will be helmed by Kathy Scambiatterra* (Producing Artistic Director), Kristin Collins*(Casting Director), Kevin Hagan* (Scenic Design, Production Manager, Graphic Design), Petter Wahlbäck* (Sound Design and Original Music), Rachel Lambert* (Costume Design), Rachel Levy (Lighting Design), Randy Rozler* (Properties Design), Ted James* (Assistant Director), Tom McNelis* (Technical Director), and Ellie Fey (Master Electrician), Arlene Urquhart and Salvatore Scambiatterra (Co-Producers).
 
The Artistic Home performs at The Den Theatre, and also maintains an acting studio and rehearsal space at 3054 N. Milwaukee Avenue in the Avondale/Logan neighborhood. Tickets are $35 general, $20 student, and  $20 for previews. Tickets will be on sale soon at www.theartistichome.org.
 
* Artistic Home ensemble member
 
LISTING INFORMATION
 
HEDDA GABLER
By Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Mark O'Rowe
Directed by Monica Payne
February 15 – March 23, 2025
Previews Saturday, February 15 at 7:30 pm, Sunday, February 16 at 3:00 pm and Wednesday, February 19 at 7:30 pm
Press Opening Thursday. February 20 at 7:30 pm
Regular run performance times Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm.
The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Ticket prices  Regular performances: $35 general, $20 students/seniors; previews $20 all seats
Tickets available at www.thedentheatre.com, or by phone at 773-697-3830
More information at www.theartistichome.org
Hedda Tesman returns from her honeymoon to the brutal banality of domestic life: an agonizingly bland husband; a living room full of dying flowers; and a house that is too large, too cluttered, too bourgeois for the once unstoppable Hedda Gabler. Both tormented and merciless, she is caught between her appetite for sensation and acute awareness of  public perception. Mark O'Rowe's stunning contemporary adaptation is a mesmerizing study of power, control, and self-deception and a nuanced portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in modern drama.

BIOS

Monica Payne (Director) is a theatre and film director, whose work intersects bold physicality, deep emotion, and collective ritual. She is the founder of Theatre Lumina, an ensemble devoted to cross-cultural collaboration and international exchange.
 
Her projects include devised work, literary adaptations, new plays, music videos, and short films. Her most recent piece, RITUAL, premiered in New Orleans in May of 2023. Payne has directed throughout the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh and her devised work, SONG OF HOME, toured to Eastern Europe. She was a Resident Director at Trap Door Theatre (Chicago) for several years and is a member of SDC, The Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and Director's Lab West. Previously an actress, she has worked with many prestigious ensembles, including Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
 
Payne holds an MFA in Directing from the UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television, and has been a Meisner-based acting teacher for many years. She has taught for The School at Steppenwolf, Steppenwolf Classes West, The Latino Theatre Company, The Robert Mello Studio, The Artistic Home, and her own studios in L.A. and Chicago. At the college level, she has taught at UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, and Point Park University, where she also served as the Head of Graduate Acting.  She is an Associate Professor at Tulane University (New Orleans), where she also serves as Head of Directing. She teaches classes for the Theatre and Dance Department, as well as Digital Media Practices.
 
Her short film MIMI is currently in post-production. In the fall of 2024, she and Tulane colleague Casey Beck  co-produced VISION(ARY), a conference on gender equity in theatre, film, and literature.
 
Mark O'Rowe (Adapter) Mark O'Rowe is a playwright and film writer whose second play, HOWIE THE ROOKIE, won the George Devine Award when it premiered at London's Bush Theatre in 1999. In 2007 he wrote TERMINUS, a series of interlocking monologues, which received rave reviews when it opened at Dublin's Abbey Theatre and won a Fringe First when it transferred to the Edinburgh Festival in 2008. O'Rowe's adaptation of Daniel Clay's novel BROKEN was directed by Rufus Norris (LONDON ROAD) and stars Cillian Murphy and Tim Roth. In 2013 Mark directed a critically acclaimed new production of HOWIE THE ROOKIE re-imagined for one actor, starring Tom Vaughn-Lawlor and produced by Landmark Productions. Mark's new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, HEDDA GABLER, opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in April 2015.

Henrik Ibsen (Playwright) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered theatrical realism, but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include BRAND, PEER GYNT, EMPEROR AND GALILEAN, A DOLL'S HOUSE, GHOSTS, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, THE WILD DUCK, ROSMERSHOLM, HEDDA GABLER, THE MASTER BUILDER, and WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A DOLL'S HOUSE was the world's most performed play in 2006.
 
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC HOME
 
The Artistic Home is noted for their innovative and intimate presentations of rarely produced classics as well for developing new works. The company has been frequently honored in the Jeff Awards. For 2023, they received nine nominations for WITCH and DYING FOR IT, including a nomination for Production of a Play (DYING FOR IT) and win for Kevin Hagan's scenic design of DYING FOR IT. In 2022, they received nine nominations and two wins – one for New Work (MALAPERT LOVE, written by artistic associate Siah Berlatsky) and one for Supporting Actor in a play (Todd Wojcik – in THE PAVILION). The company's 2022 nominations also included two for Best Play production (MALAPERT LOVE and THE PAVILION). The Artistic Home was one of the big winners in the 2019 Jeff Awards, with four awards including Production of a Play, Director of a Play, Principal Performer in a Play, and Sound Design, all for REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT. Brookelyn Hébert won a Jeff as Principal Performer in a Play for the company's 2020 production of ADA AND THE ENGINE. The company was nominated for Jeff Awards in 2019 for ROCK 'N' ROLL, and in 2018 for HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE.
 
Other memorable productions of recent years include 2017's WEDDING BAND, BY THE BOG OF CATS and THE SCHOOL FOR LIES; their Jeff-nominated productions of THE SEAGULL, WATCH ON THE RHINE, MACBETH and THE LATE HENRY MOSS; and their 2013 Jeff Award-winner THE GODDESS. Other Artistic Home productions include the Jeff-Award-winning production of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, which also received three After Dark Awards, the Jeff-Nominated SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, THE TALLEST MAN, LANDSCAPE OF THE BODY, NATURAL AFFECTION, FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, AFTER THE FALL and PEER GYNT (which also received an After Dark award for Direction).
 
For more than 26 years, The Artistic Home has consistently produced compelling theatre in Chicago. First formed in 1998 with the belief that the actor is at the heart of great theater, the company strives to give birth to unforgettable moments; to touch audiences who are increasingly distanced from human contact; to readdress the classics and explore new works with passion.