Department of Theatre Presents: Hedda Gabler

Poster design: Ash Micheel

The Department of Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's 1890 classic Hedda Gabler in a modern translation by Christopher Shinn. The production opens Friday, Feb. 17, on the University Theatre stage and fulfills thesis requirements for several M.F.A. theatre candidates including actors, designers and the director, Lacy Post. Tickets are available through the U of A Box Office at uarkartstickets.com.

About the Play

Hedda's honeymoon is over; her nightmare dawns. Returning from her honeymoon, Hedda quickly realizes how perfectly predictable her life will be married to her husband, Tesman, a nice man, and living in her dream home that becomes more and more her prison. Lacking control over her circumstances and destiny, Hedda looks for sparks wherever she can find or create them—anything to ignite a flash of the future she craves. Driven by her determination, Hedda's path forward narrows further and further into destruction. Ibsen's dark, funny classic continues to shock 100 years after it was first performed.

About the Production

The past, present and future were at the forefront of M.F.A. director Lacy Post's mind as she approached this production. Post says she proposed Hedda Gabler for her thesis production because "I couldn't believe the play is over a hundred years old, and yet still feels so relevant. The story is both past and present, because the themes of gender inequality and mental health struggles remain today."

M.F.A scenic designer Morgan McInnis and M.F.A. costume designer Ripley DeCaluwe provide Victorian era nods to the historic period while firmly setting the production in current day Copenhagen with contemporary Scandinavian stylings. Post says, "In recontextualizing a classic with the right focus and intent," she hopes university audiences reflect on inequalities in our current society, just as Ibsen intended for his audience.

Hedda is one of dramatic literature's most compelling and contradictory characters, and in her production, Post is more interested in asking questions than pointing fingers: "Every person in this play, including Hedda herself, is partially to blame for what happens," says Post. "The question is: what part did, or do, I play in all this?"

Hedda Gabler by Henrick Ibsen, translated by Christopher Shinn, directed by Lacy Post, runs through Feb. 26 at the University Theatre. Tickets and reservations can be made online at uark.universitytickets.com.