STATE ED
Hedda
Gabler
by henrik ibsen
In a new adaptation by Joanna Murray-Smith
singer & jess winfield
26 april - 18 may
Dunstan Playhouse
duration approx: 90 minutes No Interval
suitable for Years 10 - 12
DWS performance followed by a 20 - 30 min Q&A session
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Table of Contents
Playwrite5
Adaptation Writer 7
Joanna Murray-Smith7
From the Director
8
Geordie Brookman8
Actor Profile
9
Alison Bell9
Cameron Goodall10
Interview with Cameron Goodall
10
Synopsis13
Plot 14
Character Profiles
16
Themes
18
Designers22
Geoff Cobham
22
Ailsa Paterson22
Questions For The Asociate Designer
23
Design Influence
24
Glenn Murcutt24
Set and Costume Design
25
Interesting Reading
26
Suicide and Mental Illness
28
Essay Questions
30
English Questions30
Debate
30
Drama Questions31
Marketing and Design Task32
Immediate Reaction
33
Design Roles
34
Further Resources
35
References35
Interesting Reading35
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
State Theatre Company of South Australia presents
Hedda
Gabler
by henrik ibsen
In a new adaptation by Joanna Murray-Smith
cast & creative team
cast
Alison Bell
Kate Cheel
Terence Crawford
Cameron Goodall
Carmel Johnson
Nathan O’Keefe
adaptation
Joanna Murray-Smith
director
Geordie Brookman
set designer & lighting designer
Geoff Cobham
costume designer & associate set designer
Ailsa Paterson
associate lighting designer
Ben Flett
composer
DJ TR!P
stage manager
Melanie Selwood
assistant stage manager
Hollee Gunter
hair wigs and makeup
Jana DeBiasi
head mechanist
Dave Sanders
head electrician
Peter Taylor
head sound
Mick Jackson
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Playwright
henrik ibsen
(1828 – 1906)
Born Henrik Johan Ibsen in Skien, Norway in 1828. He was a playwright,
director and poet and is often referred to as ‘the father of realism.’ Many of his
plays were considered scandalous for the time, as he examined the reality behind the facades and
revealed issues of life and morality.
Ibsen was born to a well-to-do merchant family, however his father became bankrupt and as a result
turned to alcoholism. Ibsen’s characters often mirrored his family, and he often used the themes of
financial difficulty and moral conflicts.
At 15 Ibsen left school to become an apprentice pharmacist and he began writing plays. His first play
was published under a pseudonym when he was 20. He spent the next few years writing, directing and
producing at Det norske Theater (Bergen).
In 1858 he became the creative director of the Christiania Theatre and he married Suzannah
Thoresen. Their only child Sigurd was born in 1859. Struggling to make ends meat Ibsen left Norway
and moved to Italy.
His next two plays, Brand (1865) and Peer Gynt (1867) brought him critical acclaim. With new
confidence he began to explore the hidden secrets in the drama. In the 1870s-80s he wrote the
sequence of realistic prose plays for which he is best known, including Pillars of Society (1877), A Doll’s
House (1879), The Wild Duck (1884), The Lady from the Sea (1888) and Hedda Gabler (1890).
Ibsen was constantly experimenting and pushing boundaries in his writing, which made his plays
controversial and shocked conservative audiences. He challenged the notion of morality in several of
his plays;
• A Doll’s House was a scathing criticism of the marital roles accepted by men and women.
• Ghosts commented on the morality in society and marriage, with a philandering husband.
• An Enemy of the People challenged the notion that the community was a noble institution.
• Hedda Gabler and A Doll’s House centered on female protagonists who prove both attractive
and destructive for those around them.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Many critics were horrified by Hedda Gabler. A Norwegian critic called Hedda “a monster created by
the author in the form of a woman who has no counterpart in the real world.” Other responses called
it abnormal or perverted. While others called her a New Woman, a female demanding equality with
men.
“It was not my desire to deal in this play with so-called problems. What I principally wanted to do
was to depict human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon a groundwork of the social
conditions and principles of the present day.”- Ibsen
He returned to Norway in 1891 and wrote his last group of plays there: The Master Builder (1892), Little
Eyolf (1894) and When We Dead Awaken (1899).
Hedda Gabler remains Ibsen’s most performed play, with the title role regarded as one of the most
challenging and rewarding for an actress.
Over the years, Ibsen has been called a revolutionary, a nationalist, a romantic, a poet, an idealist,
a realist, a socialist, a naturalist, a symbolist, a feminist and a forerunner of psychoanalysis. He
influenced many playwrights including: George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, James
Joyce, and Eugene O’Neill.
He died in 1906 after a series of strokes.
plays
Brand (1866)
An Enemy of the People (1882)
Peer Gynt (1867)
The Wild Duck (1884)
The League of Youth (1869)
The Lady from the Sea (1888)
Emperor and Galilean (1873)
Hedda Gabler (1890)
Pillars of Society (1877)
The Master Builder (1892)
A Doll’s House (1879)
When We Dead Awaken (1899)
Ghosts (1881)
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Adaptation
by Joanna Murray-Smith
biography
In 2006, Variety (US) described Joanna Murray-Smith as “Australia’s foremost
female playwright”. Her plays, which include The Female of the Species, Honour,
Bombshells, Songs for Nobodies, Ninety and many others have been produced
throughout Australia and all over the world, including on Broadway and the West End. Her plays have
won many awards. This year, she had the US premiere of her play The Gift, as well as new plays True
Minds at Melbourne Theatre Company and Fury at Sydney Theatre Company. Her play, Day One, A
Hotel, Evening opens at Black Swan in June. Joanna is also a librettist, screen-writer and novelist. Her
novels, all published by Penguin, are Truce, Judgement Rock and Sunnyside. In 2003, she was awarded
the Centenary Medal for outstanding service as a playwright.
notes on adaptation
Hedda Gabler is one of the iconic plays of the last 110 years, but the challenge with an adaptation is
wrestling with wanting to be loyal to the original impulse of the work, but at the same time make it feel
like it absolutely belongs in the modern context.
So the questions were: what can I offer? What can I bring to this that makes it worth doing? And also,
make it not kind of immoral to do, because I think there are huge ethical issues with adaptations.
Anyway, I thought the challenge was there to try and wrestle with those questions and that’s what I
did.
I didn’t want to do a radical interpretation. I don’t believe that anyone should do that and still retain
the name of the play.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Director
geordie brookman
Geordie is the Artistic Director of State Theatre Company. Since graduating
from Flinders University Drama Centre in 2001 Geordie has directed work
around Australia, the UK and Asia. His credits include The Kreutzer Sonata,
Speaking In Tongues, romeo&juliet, Ghosts, Attempts on Her Life, The Dumb
Waiter, Ruby Moon and Hot Fudge (State Theatre Company), Spring Awakening: The Musical (Sydney
Theatre Company), Baghdad Wedding (Belvoir), Toy Symphony (Queensland Theatre Company &
State Theatre Company), Knives In Hens (Malthouse & State Theatre Company), Metro Street (Arts
Asia Pacific, Power Arts, Daegu International Musicals Festival and State Theatre Company), The City
and Tender (nowyesnow), Marathon, Morph, Disco Pigs and The Return (Fresh Track), Tiny Dynamite
(Griffin), Macbeth and The Laramie Project (AC Arts).
His productions have won or been nominated for Helpmann, Greenroom, Sydney Critics Circle,
Adelaide Critics Circle and Curtain Call awards. In 2010 Geordie was one of only five recipients
nationally of the British Council Realise Your Dream Award which allowed him to embark upon a
three month study of UK national theatre models.
He has been the assistant director for directors including Neil Armfield, Benedict Andrews, Kate
Champion, Robyn Nevin, Ariette Taylor and Scott Graham and Steven Hogget (Frantic Assembly)
and has also worked as a producer, dramaturg, teacher, event director and curator for organisations
including the Adelaide Festival, The National Play Festival, University of Wollongong, Australian
Theatre for Young People, Australian Fashion Week and Queensland Theatre Company.
director’s notes
Ibsen is an extraordinary playwright and Hedda Gabler is an extraordinary play. It works at such a
level of intellectual and emotional depth while remaining beautifully, mundanely human that it is
at once a challenge and delight for actors and directors. The world that Ibsen creates is one in which
selfishness and heroism can live side by side within the one person and where more often than not love
acts as a destructive, not a creative force.
Bringing such a complex piece of dramatic construction into a contemporary setting is no easy task
and we’ve been lucky to collaborate with Joanna Murray-Smith in updating Hedda to the here and
now. The result is, I hope, something that feels both ancient and utterly new in the same moment.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Actor Profiles
alison bell (hedda gabler)
Alison has worked consistently in theatre and television since graduating from
VCA in 2004.
Alison’s theatre credits include Conversation Piece, Old Man, As You Like It, The Book of Everything
and The Promise (Belvoir). Constellations, Tribes, The Ugly One, Blackbird, Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf ?, Doubt and King Lear (Melbourne Theatre Company), Moving Target, Sleeping Beauty and The
Spook (Malthouse Theatre) and Rabbit and Doubt (Sydney Theatre Company). She also completed a
New York season of The Book of Everything in 2012.
Alison’s theatre work has earned her the following awards and nominations: Helpmann Award 2006
- Best Supporting Female Actor, Doubt; Green Room Award 2007 - Best Female Actor, Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf ?; Sleeping Beauty; The Spook; Green Room Award 2008 - Best Ensemble 2008, Moving
Target. Green Room Nominations - Best Female Performer, Doubt (2006); Blackbird, (2008); Tribes,
(2012); Best Ensemble - The Ugly One, (2010); Sydney Theatre Award nomination - Best Actress in a
Supporting Role in a Mainstage Production, (2012), Old Man; Helpmann nomination - Best Female
Actor, Blackbird (2008).
Alison’s screen work includes guest appearances on Offspring, Mr & Mrs Murder, City Homicide, Rush,
Packed to the Rafters and Last Man Standing. She has played central roles in two ABC comedy series, I
Rock and more recently, the AACTA award winning Laid. For the latter she received an IF (Out of the
Box) nomination, an AACTA Award nomination for Best Performance in a Television Comedy and a
Best Actress in a Comedy nomination at the 2012 Monte Carlo International TV Festival.
In 2013, Alison will appear in the Seven Network/ITV mini-series Mrs Biggs.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
cameron goodall (jorgen tesman)
Cameron graduated from Flinders Drama Centre in 2000. His previous State
Theatre Company appearances include IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator
play, Attempts On Her Life, Metro Street, Hamlet (Queensland Theatre
Company), The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Belvoir), The Duck Shooter, Drums In
The Night (Brink Productions), Holy Day (Playbox), and The Great Man.
He has also worked extensively in theatre for Australia’s major companies, including Windmill
Theatre, Slingsby, Patch Theatre, Brink Productions, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Queensland
Theatre Company, Belvoir and recently as a member of Sydney Theatre Company’s ensemble in
productions including Under Milkwood, A History of Everything (Ontroerend Goed), Money Shots,
The White Guard, The Oresteia, Leviathan, Vs Macbeth (The Border Project), The Mysteries: Genesis,
Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
He was most recently part of the ensemble for the 2013 Adelaide Festival/Ontroerend Goed
productions The Smile Off Your Face, Internal and A Game of You. As Co-Artistic Director and a
founding member of The Border Project, Cameron has performed in, co-created or composed music
for all their work.
Awards include Adelaide Critics Circle Award and Advertiser Awards for Best Actor, Helpmann
nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. He has also worked extensively as a musician
and composer, as a reporter for Behind The News (ABC), and won an ARIA with his previous band The
Audreys. Cameron is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.
interview with cameron goodall
1. How does it feel to be back in Adelaide and what are some highlights of your time in Sydney?
It’s great to return to Adelaide to State Theatre Company during a period of renewal and new
leadership. I’ve spent the last four years working in Sydney and overseas. Working for Sydney
Theatre Company as part of their permanent actors ensemble. I got to play dozens of different
characters in my time there, including a South American drag queen, a Greek God and an oily
Italian Policeman, but no-one quite like Jorgen Tesman. I also co-created a show that toured
Europe, lived in Belgium for a while and got to work with some awesome senior actors like Jack
Thompson.
There is a lot happening in Adelaide at the moment and I’m more excited than ever to be working
in theatre here.
2. Jorgen seems to be a moral person who wants to keep everyone happy, but has no idea that his
wife doesn’t love him.
Relationships, in this case a marriage, can be built on all manner of things. Often the two people
involved want different things out of the relationship. Sometimes these different wants and needs
can match each other and each person can offer the other something unique that makes the union
sustainable. From an outside view, a marriage like this might seem to be ‘successful.’
One of the things the play does is call into question our preconceptions about what constitutes a
successful relationship. What do we settle for in a relationship? Do we value truth, honesty and
integrity above co-dependence, comfort or entertainment? How important are compromise and
independence? Is it possible to survive in a committed relationship when you are not ‘in love?’
Ibsen constructs Jorgen as a seemingly innocuous, kind-hearted husband. He certainly loves
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Hedda, and in a way she probably loves him too. But his notion of love is quite different to hers.
Based on the way he behaves and the choices he makes throughout the action of the play, you
can easily draw the conclusion that although he cares greatly for Hedda, his real passion and
underlying love is for scholarship. Or to put it in a more contemporary way, he’s more focussed on
his career. For many people this is the case; in a list of priorities, career comes before relationship.
At the beginning of the play Hedda seems, in her all-knowing way, to be aware of this and in
some way resigned to a shared existence that is mutually satisfactory and pragmatic rather than
romantic. But Hedda’s choice to marry Jorgen is a product of the time in her life when she makes it.
Ibsen introduces us to characters that have made choices before the play starts. Choices driven by
shared histories, conflicts and deep anxieties. The play greets the audience with characters who
are already reacting to events that have occurred before the curtain comes up. In Hedda’s case,
the catalytic event being her relationship with Lovborg. Jorgen seems so different to Lovborg,
it’s easy to see why Hedda may have chosen to marry him as the safe option, and why Jorgen
would be deluded enough and molly-coddled by Aunt Julle enough, to not think deeper about her
motivations for marrying him.
The play trades on that romantic notion that we often find ourselves living a life very different to
the one we feel we should live if we are true to ourselves, and the marriage is one aspect of that
thematic exploration.
3. What is the process you go through in developing your character?
I don’t have a fixed process. I use a range of approaches depending on the demands of the project.
In this case, much of the information about Jorgen Tesman is present in the text of the play. The
words he speaks are the first port of call, followed by the words that others speak about him.
There is plenty of other stuff that has been written about this play, not Joanna Murray Smith’s
version mind you, and that can be a kind of bottomless pit, so I generally prefer to talk with the
director and make decisions about the character slowly through rehearsals. This way the aim is
that the choices I’m making will serve the play as a whole, particularly the production that the
director is steering.
That said I like to have developed a reasonable understanding of the character before we start
rehearsals, so that as soon as we start working on the floor, I can offer ways of treating a line or an
action that contribute to the audience’s understanding of the character as one piece of a complex
puzzle of interacting pieces.
4. What attracted you to this play?
It’s a modern classic. It echoes. It’s a cracking story, a slow-motion, heart-breaking slap in the
face. The character of Jorgen is unlike characters I’m used to playing so I was attracted to that as a
challenge. He’s very steady and mild. He has no real emotional fireworks, no burning secret life or
dark restrained subtext like the other characters; instead he moves through the play as a seemingly
nice guy who may actually turn out to be a benign oppressor who is ultimately self interested.
Also, the team of people working on this production gave me confidence that it would be a
worthwhile pursuit. Working in theatre is very collaborative, so the team of people is very
important. In this case it was a great mix of people who I already have creative relationships with,
and new people who I am excited to work with for the first time.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
5. What do you think students will take away from this performance?
I hope they come with an open mind and take away whatever makes sense to them. The play is
a strange, dark tangle of questions about identity. I hope that they are engaged by the story and
perhaps challenged enough by its ramifications to try and untangle it for themselves.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Synopsis
By Joanna Murray-Smith
Hedda Gabler, the daughter of a general, is cruel, charismatic and complex. She has just returned to
town from her long honeymoon with her husband, Jorgen Tesman, a likeable and talented academic.
Their newly renovated house and honeymoon have strained their finances and they are counting on
the promise of a university position for Jorgen to extract them from their financial predicament relayed to them by their lawyer and financial advisor, Judge Brack. But Jorgen’s academic rival, Ejlert
Lovborg, a dissipated but brilliant writer has pulled himself out of his alcoholic stupor to write a much
lauded book and is now competing with Jorgen for the university post.
Thea Elvsted, an old school associate of Hedda’s, tells the couple that she has taken refuge from an
unhappy marriage by helping her friend and neighbour Lovborg write his book. But Thea, who has
fallen in love with Lovborg, is terrified that he is about to return to his alcoholic habits and squander
his talent and success. Lovborg reassures Jorgen and Hedda that he has no interest in competing for
the professorship. Rather, his aspirations rest on the book he has written with Thea’s help: a potential
masterpiece that will be a sequel to his recently heralded work.
Hedda does not love Jorgen. Her passion has always been for Lovborg, whose anarchic emotions and
contempt for mundaneity makes him a perfect match for her. Resenting Thea’s influence over him,
she manipulates Lovborg into attending a party thrown by Brack - where he will no doubt resume
drinking. When Jorgen returns from the party, he tells Hedda that he found the manuscript of
Lovborg’s book, which Lovborg lost while drunk. When Lovborg subsequently confides to Hedda that
he lost his only copy of the manuscript, Hedda fails to divulge that it had been found. This strategic
decision on Hedda’s part has far-reaching and devastating consequences for everyone.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Plot
act i
Hedda Gabler, daughter of an aristocratic general, has just returned from her honeymoon. Her
husband, Jorgen Tesman, an aspiring academic, combined research with their honeymoon which
made her feel bored and alone. Hedda reveals that she has never loved Jorgen but married him
because she thought, “My time was up.”
Aunt Julle welcomes them home. She has missed Jorgen and without him she only has her invalid
sister to look after. “I couldn’t cope if she wasn’t around. I need to look after someone and since you’ve
gone and got hitched, she’s all I’ve got.”
She tells Jorgen that he needs to look after his wife better, “I hope for Hedda’s sake you weren’t
distracted with your books the entire time.” And she hints that she’d love them to have a child, “Anything
special to relate about the trip?”
Brack soon arrives to talk to Jorgen about the over-spending on the house and Jorgen’s finances. He
also lets him know that the professorship isn’t a done deal with the reappearance of Jorgen’s academic
rival, Ejlert Lovborg. Lovborg, a recovering alcoholic, is a talented researcher and writer who has
recently published a book. Finding out that Lovborg is also in line for the professorship has Jorgen
worried about his future.
Hedda’s old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted arrives and tells Hedda and Jorgen that she’s worried about
Lovborg returning to his former ways. Hedda digs deeper and finds out that Thea worked with Lovborg
on his book and that she has left her husband for him. She also says that Lovborg talked of another
woman, “Someone from his past. Someone he can’t forget…..I can feel the hold she has over him.” She does
not know that this woman is Hedda.
act ii
Brack comes to collect Jorgen for the party through the garden where he encounters Hedda with
her father’s guns. She fires playfully past him and he takes the gun and puts it away. Brack delights in
flirting with Hedda and she in turn is quite honest to Brack, telling him that she’s bored and that she
isn’t in love with Jorgen.
Jorgen and Lovborg arrive and Lovborg quickly puts Jorgen at ease, saying that he isn’t interested in
the professorship, but is writing a sequel to his book. Brack and Jorgen go to another room for a drink
and Hedda and Lovborg talk privately. It is clear that they are former lovers and that they still carry a
flame for each other.
Thea arrives and Lovborg compliments her and calls her a comrade. Jealous of Thea’s influence over
Lovborg Hedda hopes to come between them. She taunts Lovborg into drinking and then reveals that
Thea was ‘worried’ about him regressing. Angry at the lack of trust from Thea, Lovborg lashes out at
her and quickly downs a couple of drinks and decides to go to the party.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
act iii
The next morning Jorgen tells Hedda that he found Lovborg’s manuscript, which he lost while he was
drunk. Before he has a chance to return it though, he gets news that his Aunt Rina isn’t well and leaves
the manuscript with Hedda.
Brack shows up to tell Hedda about the previous night’s events, including that Lovborg got quite drunk
and spent the night at Mademoiselle Diana’s place. He caused a commotion accusing her of stealing his
briefcase before the cops came and arrested him. Brock warns Hedda, “Ejlert is using you to have his
little flirtation with Thea.”
Lovborg enters looking for Thea. He tells her that it’s over, he has destroyed their work, ‘their child’,
tearing into a thousand pieces. Thea says, “I feel as if – as if you’ve murdered our child,” and she leaves.
Lovborg explains to Hedda that he has lost the manuscript and can’t face Thea with this awful truth.
He says that he plans, “To finish it once and for all.” Hedda says that he must do it beautifully and she
gives him one of her guns.
Instead of revealing that she has the manuscript she burns it.
act iv
News arrives that Aunt Rina has died. Jorgen returns wanting the manuscript, and is shocked when
Hedda tells him she destroyed it. Hedda also reveals that she’s pregnant and Jorgen is beside himself
with happiness.
When the news comes that Lovborg has killed himself, Jorgen and Thea are determined to reconstruct
his book from Lovborg’s notes, which she has kept. Hedda is shocked to discover from Brack that
Lovborg’s death wasn’t a suicide, but accidental, which contrasts with the beautiful death that she had
imagined for him.
Brack knows the origin of the gun and tells Hedda that a scandal will likely arise due to her role in
giving Lovborg the gun. She realises that Brack has a ‘hold’ over her. Leaving the others she walks to
the doorway where she shoots herself in the head.
“I’ll be here. All alone. Inside the tedium and the loss.
And the garden will be withering. And the house will be mournful.
The walls will be trembling. The sounds will be mocking.
And the ghosts will be hovering. And here I will be. Hedda Gabler.”
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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Character Profiles
“My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded
rather as her father’s daughter than her husband’s wife.” - Ibsen
hedda gabler (tesman)
She is the daughter of General Gabler and married to Jorgen Tesman. Depending on the
interpretation, Hedda can be portrayed as an idealistic heroine fighting society, a victim of
circumstance, a prototypical feminist, or a manipulative villain.
She is a beautiful young woman, who had many male admirers before marrying Jorgen. She settled
with him because he offered a fine home, a respectable occupation and a substantial income. However,
on their six-month honeymoon she became bored with Jorgen and his research. Still she manages to
manipulate him into catering for her every whim.
She has little to occupy her mind so she schemes and interferes into other people’s lives. She
remembers her romance with Ejlert Lovborg, possibly the only person she’s come close to loving. She
gets Thea to take her into her confidence about Lovborg and taunts him about this relationship, his
work and alcoholism. She also takes advantage of her husband’s dying aunt to steal a document and
tricks Lovborg into committing suicide.
She is willful and free spirited, vengeful and cowardly, bored and manipulative, but is terrified of
gossip. Her aims and her motives seem to have a personal logic of their own. She gets what she wants,
but what she wants is not anything that the normal usually admit, to be desirable.
jorgen tesman
Hedda’s husband. He is a gifted, cheerful and well-meaning academic. He has just returned with his
wife, Hedda from their honeymoon, which he spent most of the time doing research and neglecting his
new wife. He has come back to take up a professorship, but learns that this isn’t a done deal as Ejlert is
also interested.
Unlike Ejlert, Jorgen hasn’t published his works. This makes Jorgen anxious as he has over-capitalised
on the house to please Hedda. “We had to do that trip and we had to do it comfortably. Hedda has
expectations….It’s put us under pressure but it was worth it.”
Jorgen adores his wife and caters to her every whim. He’s so blinded by sheer adoration of Hedda that
he doesn’t consider the destructive effect she’s having on those around her.
When hearing that Hedda has burnt the manuscript he demands to know why, but when Hedda says
that she ‘Couldn’t bear the thought of him stealing your due” he isn’t sure whether to be happy or
furious.
aunt julle
George’s loving aunt who has raised him since early childhood. She lives and looks after her invalid
sister.
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Aunt Julle highlights the difficulties in Jorgen’s marriage as she represents Jorgen’s past and the
expectations of his future. She has a love for Jorgen that Hedda doesn’t have.
After her sister Rina dies she is eager to have someone move into her house, even if it is a stranger. ”I’m
sure if won’t be longer before someone occupies her room. There’s always someone who needs a place.”
Devoted to Jorgen it defines her actions and existence, mindset and values. She says to Jorgen, “It
gives me great satisfaction to know that those who stood in your way are now irrelevant. You triumphed!
And the worst offender (meaning Ejlert) is now suffering the consequences of his own weakness.”
thea elvsted
Thea is a younger schoolmate of Hedda and an ‘old flame’ of Jorgen’s. She’s married to Judge Elvsted
and stepmother to his children, but she has fallen in love with Lovborg after helping him work on
his second book. Thea has helped reform Lovborg and inspired him personally and professionally,
encouraging him to give up his drinking and womanising way. She calls this book, ‘their child’ and is
devastated when Lovborg says he’s destroyed it.
Thea lacks Hedda’s abilities to attract Lovborg, so she uses her femininity, her flowing hair and
naturally sweet demeanor. At the end of the day she is still a woman who, facing emptiness has to
devote her life to a man. So when Lovborg dies instead of being overcome with grief, she quickly
convinces Jorgen to rewrite the book using her notes.
brack
Brack arranged Jorgen’s finances for his home. He’s a man of action and it’s clear he has the power to
make things happen. Brack is smart and enjoys razor-sharp banter with Hedda. He’s also intuitive,
picking up information, like Hedda’s past relationship with Lovborg and the guns that she owns.
Brack is the only man able to turn the tables on Hedda and he is the only character that she’s honest
with. At the end he holds her destiny in his hands, “You don’t need to worry about that….Because I’m
never going to tell.” And then says, “It’s amazing how swiftly we move from high dudgeon to ordinary
pragmatism, Hedda.”
This may be one of the leading reasons that Hedda kills herself, as she doesn’t want to be blackmailed
by Brack.
ejlert lovborg
Ejlert is a researcher and writer, who has successfully published a book and has a new manuscript
almost completed, yet he isn’t interested in the professorship.
A former lover of Hedda’s, he used to run around town getting drunk and hanging around with the
wrong crowd, specifically Mademoiselle Diana. Hedda was intrigued by his apparent disregard for the
rules.
Now a recovering alcoholic, Lovborg swore off drinking after meeting Thea Elvsted, who helped
him write his latest manuscript. He is ready to settle with Thea, whom he calls beautiful, but is
disappointed when he finds out that she doesn’t trust him. Still in love with and haunted by Hedda he
tries to work out what happened, “Why couldn’t that have continued, Hedda.”
Ultimately he is caught been the two women; between scholarly fame and disrepute; drinking and not
drinking; courage and cowardice.
rina tesman
She is the invalid sister of Aunt Julle. She is talked about, but never seen.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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Themes
women in hedda
Thea plays off Hedda’s strong willed desire for independence and has achieved things that Hedda
desires, but fears to pursue, such as freedom to be who she wants to be. Hedda sees Thea as inferior
to herself, yet Thea has shown courage in leaving her husband. Thea lives for men and embodies her
feminine devotion and beauty. Hedda however, fails to love a man, although all of the men desire her.
Thea has inspired Lovborg to change his ways, giving up drinking and womanising and helping him
with his book, which they refer to as their ‘child.’ “Do you see, Hedda? How happy he makes me. He says
I inspire him.” Although Thea reveals that there was another woman who seems to have a hold on him,
little does she know that this woman is Hedda.
Thea likes Lovborg as a reformed man – a scholar, a writer, and a teacher. Hedda and Thea aren’t two
jealous women fighting over who gets to have Lovborg; they’re fighting over which man he will be. As
Hedda puts it, they’re fighting for ‘control’ of his ‘destiny.’
Thea and Aunt Julle are the minor women in the play and are the opposite of Hedda’s unappealing
selfish personality. It’s possible that Aunt Julle is jealous of Hedda, having married her nephew, she is
now needing someone to look after. Hedda doesn’t really want the aunts around and pokes fun at Aunt
Julle’s fashion sense and the things she’s kept for Jorgen.
courage
“Courage allows you to be truly alive.”- Hedda Act II
Throughout the play, Hedda is seeking ‘an act of spontaneous courage.’ She thinks that Lovborg is
courageous when he’s drinking and cowardly when he’s not. On their past relationship Lovborg asks
her why they didn’t work out, she says, “Because in the end, I’m a coward.”
Despite coming across as weak, Thea is the most courageous character in the play. On leaving her
husband she says, “I don’t care. I did what I had to do. I haven’t thought it through. I’m following my
feelings. For once in my life, I’m allowing my heart to dictate my actions.” Lovborg also tells Hedda that
Thea is brave and has shown true courage.
When Hedda hears that Lovborg has committed suicide she says, “I’m thrilled that he could commit an
act of beauty and strength and resolve.” Perhaps meaning that, until we are willing to let go of other’s
definitions of us and of ourselves, we will never create moments of beauty or courage.
Audiences may be divided as to whether Hedda’s suicide is a courageous act. She implies that it is a
way to be free and to assert her autonomy, but it resolves nothing. She lets her past identity as Hedda
Gabler, control her, rather than accept her present identity.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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jealousy
Perhaps the reason why Hedda resents Thea so much is jealousy. She’s jealous of the courage Thea
shows in leaving her husband and jealous of Thea’s relationship with Lovborg. She draws Thea into her
confidence and then tells Lovborg that Thea was in a state worried about him which makes Lovborg
question Thea’s devotion and trust.
Hedda may also feel that Thea’s ruined everything she liked about Lovborg, including his wild spirit, or
perhaps she’s jealous that she couldn’t change him to be what she needed.
There is also Hedda’s obsession with Thea’s hair, “She used to toss her hair at school. Obesessivecompulsive schoolgirl hair-tosser! It used to drive me demented.” As children, Hedda used to pull Thea’s
hair and threatened to burn it off, which she does again at the end of Act II.
Later when Thea declares that she’ll work with Jorgen to reconstruct the lost manuscript, we see
Hedda’s first moment of insecurity. She’s wondering if Thea, the ultimate woman, will do for Jorgen
what she herself cannot.
Jorgen talks about feeling envy when he reads Lovborg’s book. “I felt enveloped in this disgusting
sensation…despite or because of his brilliance he will never really have what he is due. The world isn’t
hospitable to brilliant minds.” Although, he is quick to praise Lovborg, and offers to read his next
manuscript.
Brack seems to be jealous of the attention Hedda shows towards Lovborg. After the boys night out
he tells her, “Ejlert spent the night at a club with a singer and her friends. After all, Ejlert is using you
to have his little flirtation with Thea.” He wants her to forget him and she says, “You don’t want any
competition…..The only cock in the yard….You’re a dangerous person.”
love
The male characters are more or less in love with Hedda. Brack wants a private relationship with her
and Lovborg is in love with her. Hedda teases Brack saying, “You don’t want any competition. The only
cock in the yard.”
Jorgen is proud to have ‘won’ over Hedda and does love her, but neglected her during their
honeymoon, instead concentrating on his work. On being with Jorgen she says, “ You make up your
mind to marry when you get to the point when it’s unseemly to be chasing the same old distractions. I had
reached that point. Besides which, he’s a nice enough guy.”
Hedda comes close to admitting she was falling for Lovborg, or the ideal of a ‘wild’ boy, but she couldn’t
continue their relationship, knowing what others would think of her with an alcoholic. “Weren’t we
just kindred spirits, Ejlert? ‘Love’ was never mentioned, was it? It didn’t enter our vocabulary.”
Thea explains that she didn’t love her husband, “He’s twenty years older. We have nothing in common.
I’m miserable with him!” So by leaving her husband for Lovborg, you’d think she was in love. “He makes
me whole, He’s shown me how to think, to feel.” However, she quickly takes a similar administration role
when Jorgen takes over Lovborg’s work.
Lovborg is cruel when he breaks up with Thea. Was their bond only through his work and did he ever
love Thea?
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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manipulation
Hedda is bored and says that she has nothing to do. “I look around and I’m surrounded by mediocrity….I
wake up and I feel nothing…..People who are happy just seem deluded to me. The only thing I can do is
try to change the way I see things. To bury myself so deeply inside the inconsequential, the big picture is
obscured.”
It is entertaining for her to play with people and she doesn’t worry about the consequences.
She fakes friendship with Thea, burns Lovborg’s manuscript and makes Aunt Julle feel bad about her
clothing/style.
She’s also an expert in extracting information she needs from others.Lovborg says, “I told you things
I’d never told another living soul!... There was something about you that made me tell you things.”
Manipulating Lovborg makes her feel as though she has control over him. She devises the perfect
suicide for him, orchestrating the life that she can’t experience herself.
power
“I want power over another’s fate.”- Hedda (Act2)
Lovborg and Hedda talk about their love for each other before she married and how she was a coward
for not being with him. When Thea arrives Lovborg tells Hedda how Thea has inspired him. She
has helped Lovborg to turn his life around, to forget drinking and write. Hedda says, “You’ve shown
courage, Thea…I’m envious.” She’s so envious that she encourages Lovborg, a reformed alcoholic to
drink, “Not even to please me? That’s how little power I have over you?”
Even though she may not be aware, Hedda has a hold over Lovborg. When Thea talks about her
relationship with Lovborg she says there’s another woman, “I can feel the hold she has over him. It was
one of those intense, obsessed relationships where everyone behaves badly.”
Hedda enjoys having power over people. She knows Tesman is having financial worries, yet she tells
him what she wants in the house. When she destroys Lovborg’s manuscript she tells Tesman she did it
for him, yet in reality that is far from the truth.
children
Aunt Julle subtly questions if Hedda is pregnant. She also asks Jorgen whether he has any
‘expectations’ or if anything ‘special’ happening on the trip. Jorgen taunts Aunt Julle by saying, “The
only real question is what on Earth to do with the two spare rooms at the back.”
Although Jorgen doesn’t know Hedda’s pregnant, he teases her, “A little rounder than we left.”
Hedda curtly adds, “I’m exactly the same weight as when I left.” She later says “I have no talent
for it. I don’t like things that make demands on me.”
Hedda finally reveals to Jorgen that she’s pregnant, possibly to calm him down for being angry about
burning Lovborg’s manuscript. Jorgen is ecstatic, but doesn’t want anyone else to know.
the book as a ‘child’
Lovborg’s book is a dominant metaphor in the play. Thea tells Lovborg the book on which they worked
on is like ‘a little child.’ When he tells her he’s destroyed the book she says, “I feel as if you’ve murdered
our child… How could you? When that child belonged to me as well?”
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By creating the book as a child, Ibsen hints that the manuscript is a promise of the future: Lovborg’s
future, having restored his reputation, and the continuation of his relationship with Thea. Thus
when Hedda destroys the manuscript, “There it goes, Thea. I’m burning your baby. Yours and Ejlert
Lovborg’s. I’m burning your child…,” she is destroying their future together.
money
Jorgen wanted to please Hedda from the beginning. Buying her the house she wanted and renovating
the place. “Hedda has expectations….It’s put us under pressure but it was worth it.”
Brack tells Jorgen that he’s gone over budget with the house, “Hedda’s expectations aren’t entirely in
line with reality.” He also says, “We’re up to our ears – we borrowed from Aunt Julle.”
Jorgen says he’ll be fine once he starts his professorship, but is threatened when he hears that Lovborg
is back in town.
Hedda also mentions the finances, “My husband is always banging on about what we’re going to live on!”
She knows that things are tight, but she still insists on getting what she wants. Brack tells her not to
splurge on the house and she retorts, “Don’t rebuke me, Brack. I’m not a child.”
suicide
In Act III after a drunken night out with the boys, Lovborg confesses to Hedda how he has failed in life.
The prospect of him living forever with Thea and forgoing his love for Hedda scares him.
Lovborg: Hedda: Lovborg: Hedda: “I can’t look at her, wake up next to her, live each day with her knowing what I’ve done to her.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Finish it once and for all.”
“Then do it well Ejlert. Do it beautifully.”
Hedda talks him into committing suicide; she even gives him one of her guns as a memento. She’s
disgusted to hear the truth about Lovborg’s accidental death, something that she carefully planned,
“Everything I touch ends up being absurd or sordid.”
As Thea and Jorgen discuss the rewriting of Lovborg’s manuscript Hedda becomes jealous. She sees
Thea becoming her husband’s inspiration for his work and told that she can’t help.
“I’ll be here. All alone. Inside the tedium and the loss.
And the garden will be withering. And the house will be mournful.
The walls will be trembling. The sounds will be mocking.
And the ghost will be hovering. And here I will be. Hedda Gabler.”
With these words she lifts the gun to her temple, pulls the trigger and commits suicide.
Perhaps Hedda wanted the power to control someone, or thought that if she couldn’t have want she
wanted then no-one could. Her suicide could be the result of her jealousy of Thea, being in a loveless
marriage, bored and pregnant with a child she doesn’t want, or Brack knowing that she’d given
Lovborg the gun and the investigation that could ensue.
Or she could be punishing Jorgen and Brack. Jorgen by losing the one thing he prizes most, his trophy
wife and their baby. And Brack who never gets to have sex with the woman he’s been lusting after. This
way, Hedda wins.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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Designers
geoff cobham
Set & Lighting Designer
Geoff is a State Theatre Company Artistic Associate (Design and Production)
and has worked as a Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Set Designer, Event
Producer and Venue Designer. Most recently he was the Set Designer and Lighting Designer of the
State Theatre Company/Adelaide Festival production of The Kreutzer Sonata, and producer of Special
Events/Designer for the Adelaide Festival 2012.
Other recent theatre lighting designs include: Speaking in Tongues, romeo&juliet, Attempts on Her
Life, Metro Street, The Goat (or Who is Sylvia?) and Night Letters (State Theatre Company), G,
Vocabulary and Nothing (Australian Dance Theatre), Incognita and Burning Daylight (Stalker), Beetle
Graduation, Skip Miller’s Hit Songs, The Hypochondriac, Drums in the Night, this uncharted hour and
The Duckshooter (Brink Productions), Impulse, Stayagraha, Einstein on the Beach Pt 1&2, Quick Brown
Fox and Ahknaten (Leigh Warren & Dancers), Landmark, Rebel Rebel, Starry Eyed and In The Blood
(Restless Dance Theatre), The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, Wolf (Slingsby), Pinocchio, Plop! and The
Wizard of Oz (Windmill Theatre).
alisa paterson
Costume & Associate Set Designer
Ailsa completed the International Baccalaureate in Adelaide and went on to gain
a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Design (NIDA), graduating in 2003. Design credits
for theatre include IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play, War Mother, The Ham Funeral, Three
Sisters (Costume Design), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Price and The
Cripple of Inishmaan (State Theatre Company), Skylight (Ensemble), Shining City (Griffin Theatre
Company), Hansel and Gretel and La Sonnambula (Pacific Opera), Faustus and Madame Melville
(BSharp), Vampirella, The Internationalist and Bone (Darlinghurst Theatre), A Couple of Blaguards
(Seymour Centre/Comedy Theatre), Shifted (Sydney Dance Company), Debris (Old Fitzroy Theatre/
Melbourne Fringe) and Twelfth Night (ATYP). She was also Designer for State Theatre Company’s
40th Birthday Gala in November 2012.
Ailsa has worked in costume on The Straits (ABC), Laid (ABC), Underbelly — A Tale of Two Cities,
Underbelly — The Golden Mile, Blue Water High, The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, Ten Empty,
The Boy from Oz Arena Spectacular, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Musical, High School Musical,
The Asian Games and styled the Eskimo Joe film clip Life is Better with You.
Ailsa was awarded the 2011 Mike Walsh Fellowship.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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questions for the associate designer
1. What is the role of an Associate Designer?
An associate designer works to implement the concept of the set designer. This role involves engaging
in design meetings from the very beginning of the process and providing research material and
references when required. As the design is developed, the associate creates the first version of the set
model, the so-called ‘white card model.’ This provides a visual reference from which the final design is
evolved, based on discussions of the proportions, finishes and practicalities of the design.
The associate designer will then create the final set model along with the building plans for the
workshop so that costing and appraisal can take place. The associate is also sometimes required to
meet with the production manager and building staff to discuss aspects of the design and how they
might be realised. It is a supporting role, with the overarching concept coming from the set designer,
but the realisation and detail being filled in by the associate.
2. What are the challenges in designing costumes for this production?
There are a few challenging elements to the costume design for this production. Firstly, because we
have a contemporary setting it is very important that the costumes be very realistic and detailed
without being distracting or overtly ‘costumey.’ The clothes need to sit comfortably in this updated
version of the play and have an ease and sophistication that almost means they aren’t noticed.
There is a very important balance to be struck between the costumes of the female characters,
particularly Thea and Hedda. Hedda is supposed to be the most beautiful person in the room, the
effortlessly elegant woman who attracts any man in her vicinity. Her clothes need to support her
magnetism and power. Thea is also an attractive woman, but is trying to be appreciated for her
brain and not her beauty, so there is a calculated modesty to her attire. We have made the decision
to underplay the anticipated first entrance of Hedda - we see her in a man’s t-shirt and track pants
initially and it is not until the second act that she has her ‘wow’ frock. We aim to show her power and
elegance despite her clothing through this choice.
A third challenge is to bring a vitality and strength of colour and print against a very neutral set design.
This needs to be done with the integrity of appropriateness for character.
3. Where is the play set? How does this affect the overall design?
Our version of the play is set in contemporary Adelaide. This has a huge impact on the design as we
have referenced a famous Australian architect, Murcott, whose work can be seen in Adelaide and is
likely to be familiar to audience members. We also have a garden of burnt gum trees as a background to
the house, and most entrances are made through the trees. There is a familiarity to the setting and the
people that could not be achieved with a period production.
4. How important is it to know the characters personalities when designing their costumes? What
other factors do you need to consider?
It is hugely important to analyse the characters’ personalities when designing their costumes. This is
the first consideration when approaching the design. You need to know what kind of person you are
dressing, what job they have, what their social status is, how important clothing would be to them and
what they are trying to convey to the world. It is also important to consider the practicalities of the
play structure in terms of how long they have to change between acts and entrances. Furthermore it is
important to have a consistency in terms of setting place and time, time of year and climate.
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Design Influence
glenn murcutt
Glenn Marcus Murcutt is a British-born Australian architect. His designs fit
into the Australian landscape and consider the environment in terms of wind,
water, temperature and light. He uses materials such as glass, stone, timber and
steel.
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Set & Costume Design
setting
Joanna Murray-Smith version
A spacious, uncluttered sitting room in a beautiful but not overly elaborate house. There is a sense that
the occupants are in the midst of moving in: no clutter, some boxes, odd pieces of furniture not quite
assembles into a designed plan, despite the presence of a sofa, armchairs and a desk. A series of French
doors connect the room to a terrace, with a table and chairs, and beyond it, to a sprawling green garden.
There is something timeless and serene about the house. The effect is of Northern hemisphere light and
space. Inside the sitting room is a fireplace set for a fire. A door leads out to an unseen hallway.
The scenes take place over one-and-a-half days in the house.
set design
The Designer wanted to have an immediate sense of accessibility so has set this production in
contemporary Adelaide. The main action is in one room which leads to an outside area through glass
bi-fold doors. Through these doors you can see a forest of burnt gum trees which represent the death
and regeneration theme throughout the play. These doors act as an exit and entry point.
The room itself is the new modern extension onto the existing house. The only remnant of the older
house is the sandstone wall and a doorway through which you can see worn carpet.
The furniture in this room are choices that Hedda has made for the room and like her character they
are very cold and clean. Jorgen’s old writing desk is the only piece that doesn’t fit this modern decor.
Hedda & Jorgen have just moved in so nothing is really set up and boxes are still about the place.
costumes
The costumes are all modern. Hedda, Brack and Jorgen’s clothes are slick and expensive. Hedda is
downplayed in Act I appearing in a tracksuit, but has a stunning gown in Act II and then has a sickly
green outfit towards the end. Unintentional in the original design, the colour green has become a
feature for Hedda, used as a power colour and then turns jealous and sickly like her character.
Thea on the other hand is neat, contained and conservative. She wants to be known for her intellect,
not her beauty so there is no flesh and she has an air of professionalism in her attire.
Lovborg is messy and careless. Everything is rather ill-fitting and he doesn’t care about his appearance.
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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Interesting Reading
realism
“The art of drawing from one’s own personal memories and experiences to convey emotion”.
Ibsen is considered to be the father of modern realistic drama. His plays questioned society’s values
and dealt with unconventional subjects such as; euthanasia, the role of women, war, illness and
business.
He discarded soliloquies and asides, exposition was motivated and inner psychological motivation
was emphasised. The environment had an influence on the character’s personalities and the writing
revealed the character’s intentions.
Realism began in the 19th Century and has been dominant for the last 120 years. It began as an
experiment to make theatre more useful to society as theatre up until this time consisted of
melodramas, spectacle plays, comic operas, and vaudevilles.
Realism shows people moving and talking in a manner similar to that of our everyday behaviour and
that the stage is an environment, rather than as an acting platform.
Realism’s early phase was Romanticism, which had its roots in the 1790’s with works by Goethe (Faust)
and Schiller (William Tell). Romanticism in contrast, is known for exotic locales and swashbuckling
heroes. As the 19th Century progressed elements such as social and political ideas and theatrical
innovations helped bring Realism to the theatre.
Three major developments helped lead to the emergence of realism and helped open the door for
theatre that would be different from what had come before.
1. August Comte (1798-1857) Considered to be the “Father of Sociology.”, he developed a theory known as Positivism, which
encouraged understanding of the cause and effect of nature.
2. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Published The Origin of Species in 1859. This suggested that life developed gradually from common
ancestry and that life favoured “survival of the fittest.”
3. Karl Marx (1818-1883) He started a political philosophy arguing against urbanization in favour of a more equal
distribution of wealth.
Drama involved the direct observation of human behaviour using contemporary settings and time
periods, and dealt with everyday life and problems as subjects and lead to the technique called ‘method
acting’. Truth and accuracy became the goals of many Realists.
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Other writers of Realism
• Emile Augier (1820-1889)
• George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) • Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Suggested plays
• Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
• A Doll’s House, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
• The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
• The Weavers by Gerhardt Hauptmann
• Ah Wilderness, Mourning Becomes Electra, Desire Under the Elms,
The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill
• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
• American Buffalo by David Mamet
Features of Realism
• Influenced by the emergence of psychology as a study.
• The most dominant form of theatre in the last 100 years.
• Sought to create drama without conventions or abstractions.
• Renounced idealised or prettified settings, contrived endings, stylised
costumes and performances.
• Likeness to life is the general goal.
• Creation of believable characters and situations which give the illusion of real life.
• A true representation of human experience.
• Audience suspension of disbelief.
film - hedda (1975)
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Starring
Peter Eyre
Glenda Jackson
Patrick Stewart
Hedda is a film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler directed by
Trevor Nunn. This was the first only major theatrical film version of
the play in English. Previous productions of the play in English with
sound had all been made for television.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (Glenda
Jackson). The film was also screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival,
but wasn’t entered into the main competition.
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Suicide and
Mental Illness
gender in suicide
Men and women tend to view suicide and the method in which it’s done differently. Men often
choose high mortality actions such as hanging, carbon-monoxide poisoning, and gun violence. This
is in contrast to females, who tend to rely on drug overdosing. Deaths by overdosing are frequently
reported as accidental, indicating that the total amount of suicide deaths by females may be higher
than is generally reported
mental illness
Hedda is one of the first neurotic female protagonists of theatre. She is neither logical nor insane and
her motives have a personal logic of their own. She gets what she wants, but what she gets isn’t always
what she desires. Hedda might be insane; she might be bipolar; she might just be neurotic. She seems
to be incapable of love and even admits to Brack that she has no control over her own actions. The
biggest moment of madness comes at the end of ACT III when she mutters the same words over and
over while burning Ejlert’s irreplaceable manuscript.
Her final speech indicates her loneliness.
“I’ll be here. All alone. Inside the tedium and the loss.
And the garden will be withering. And the house will be mournful.
The walls will be trembling. The sounds will be mocking.
And the ghost will be hovering. And here I will be. Hedda Gabler.”
Around 2,000 Australians die from suicide each year and there is no doubt that depression is a major
cause. Of those who have killed themselves, many have experienced depression or bipolar disorder.
For every person who dies from suicide, at least another 30 people attempt suicide.
With medical intervention, counselling, social support and time, however, many of those who have
attempted suicide, or who have seriously thought about killing themselves, will go on to live full,
productive lives.
risk factors for suicide
Contributing factors to suicide may include:
• Depression – many people who suicide have experienced depression
• Psychosis – some people suicide because they are confused as a result of their hallucinations or
because they want to get away from the symptoms.
• Drugs and alcohol – misuse of marijuana, heroin, amphetamines and alcohol is closely related to
suicidal behaviour.
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suicide warning signs
The majority of people who suicide give warning signs about their intentions. Some of the warning
signs are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Expressions of hopelessness or helplessness
An overwhelming sense of shame or guilt
A dramatic change in personality or appearance, or irrational or bizarre behaviour
Changed eating or sleeping habits
A severe drop in school or work performance
A lack of interest in the future
Written or spoken notice of intention to commit suicide
Giving away possessions and putting their affairs in order.
What to do if a relative or friend threatens suicide
If you think a friend or relative is at risk, discuss your concerns with them openly and nonjudgementally. Also discuss your concerns with relevant professionals – for example, their doctor or a
school counsellor. If someone you know is at serious risk of suicide, keep the phone number of a crisis
service (such as Lifeline) handy in case you need urgent help.
if you have suicidal thoughts
• Tell your doctor or other sympathetic people. If your thoughts
are associated with depression, delusions or other symptoms, a
change in medication and treatment may help get rid of them.
• Keep a list of people you can telephone as well as the numbers
for Lifeline and similar services. Make an agreement with one
or more people that you will call them if you actually plan to
attempt suicide.
• Remember you do not have to act on suicidal thoughts and that
they will pass in time.
where to get help
SANE Australia Tel. 1800 18 SANE (7263)
Lifeline Tel. 13 11 14
Kids Helpline (for children aged under 18) Tel. 1800 55 1800
Your doctor, for information and referral
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
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EssayQuestions
english questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Draw comparisons between the world created on stage and the current political/social climate.
Why are relationships so important to the development of the story?
How does Hedda Gabler highlight some of the issues faced in society today?
What do you think Ibsen means when he said that Hedda Gabler portrayed certain “social
conditions and principles of the present day?”
5. What is the importance of the character of Aunt Julle?
6. Do any characters grow over the course of the play?
7. How does Hedda view her marriage? What do you think her motives were for marrying Tesman?
8. Lovborg is an intelligent, brave man. He gave up drinking, reformed himself and earned a good
reputation. Why does he bend to Hedda’s suggestion that he seems insecure and why does he drink
again?
9. Who has more power over Lovborg – Thea or Hedda and why?
10. Do you think Hedda’s suicide is courageous or cowardly?
debate
Select a topic for a debate from the following questions;
1)
Should Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler have been banned when it was first performed?
2)Does Hedda Gabler resonate for woman in the 21st century?
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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drama questions
1. What was the primary goal of Realism?
2. Through what aspects of stage production did Realism explore the social, political and
psychological aspects of human life?
3. What are some major themes of Realist drama?
4. Choose two characters and discuss the expressive skills the actors used to form the characters’
personality.
5. What were some of the key moments in the play? Explain.
6. How was the central theme developed through the dramatic elements of tension, conflict, climax
and mood?
7. Identify five moments in the production where stagecraft (set, costume, lighting, sound, props etc)
was effectively used.
8. How were the dramatic elements of conflict, mood, pace, space and rhythm manipulated within
the performance?
9. Discuss the director’s interpretion of Hedda Gabler and how successful was he in bringing it into a
modern context?
10. Analyse and evaluate the production of Hedda Gabler. Give examples from the performance to
support your observations
design
Find the original stage directions set in the 1890’s. Research design
from this era and design either the set or the costumes accordingly.
Compare your vision with State Theatre Company’s updated
staged version.
performance
Take a scene from the play and get students to choose two
significant lines from the text. In pairs get students to face each
other and say these lines without any expression. Then students
can explore different emotions and different ways of saying these
lines.
The teacher as director may call out emotions e.g. Anger, sadness,
seduction, tempestuous etc)
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
marketing & design task
Look at the poster designs for various Hedda Gabler productions around the world. How does each
design represent the character of Hedda? Having seen the play, which poster clearly reflects the story
and which poster appeals to you as an audience member? Discuss.
State Theatre Company of South Australia presents
Hedda
Gabler
by henrik ibsen
In a new adaptation by Joanna Murray-Smith
poster references
www.christophershinn.com/plays/hedda-gabler-adaptation-2009
www.theatre.asn.au/production/2008/hedda_gablerheatre.asn.au
www.ontaponline.com/2012/01/01/hedda-gabler-at-scena-theatre-and-billy-elliot-at-the-kennedy-center/
www.oxfordplayhouse.com/archive/show.aspx?eventid=1308
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
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Immediate Reactions
After viewing the play set aside time for class discussion. Consider the following aspects of the play,
and record them into your journal.
production elements
strengths
weaknesses
impact on audience
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
performance elements
Design Roles
For each of the following design roles, explain using three specific examples, how each role added
meaning to the action or your understanding of context, theme or other aesthetic understandings of
the drama event.
design role
technique
what did this contribute to the performance?
one
lighting
two
three
one
music
two
three
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013
Further Resources
references
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_Gabler
www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Hedda.html
www.shmoop.com/hedda-gabler
www.inthecompanyofactors.com.au/pdfs/STC_Study_Guide.pdf
plays.about.com/od/plays/a/heddagabler.htm
www.sparknotes.com/lit/heddagabler
www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/hedda-gabler.html
www.melbournefestival.com.au/assets/2011/2011docs/EducationPack_HeddaGabler.pdf
suite101.com/article/comparing-women-in-hedda-gabler-a75420
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Ibsen
www.biography.com/people/henrik-ibsen-37014
interesting reading
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Murcutt
formandwords.com/2011/04/04/glenn-murcutt-an-interview
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_(film)
www.lifeline.org.au/Get-Help/Facts---Information/Preventing-Suicide/Preventing-Suicide
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(theatre)
realismtheatre.blogspot.com.au
homepage.smc.edu/jones_janie/TA%202/8Realism.htm
novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/realism.htm
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Study Guide Hedda Gabler
By Robyn Brookes © 2013