Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane
November 20, 2018

Queensland Theatre are finishing their 2018 season with a bang as Hedda transforms the Bille Brown Theatre into a lavish Gold Coast mansion and drags audiences down into the underbelly of the drug business in this localised version of Ibsen’s classic.

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler premiered in 1891 and its title character is generally regarded as “the female Hamlet” said Queensland Theatre’s Artistic Director Sam Strong at the play briefing, referring to her strong, complicated and introspective nature as well as the compelling and destructive energy of the character. Hedda Gabler, the driven daughter of aristocratic General Gabler, marries reliable George Tesman and, dissatisfied with her new married life, manipulates her husband and the other characters into helping her achieve her own goals.

Danielle Cormack in Queensland Theatre’s Hedda. Photo: supplied

While Ibsen’s Hedda is the bored housewife of an academic, Queensland Theatre’s production by playwright Melissa Bubnic drops its heroine beside the pool at a beachside Gold Coast mansion, all paid for by the Tesman family business; crystal meth. Directed by Paige Rattray, Bubnic’s Hedda is dark and dramatic, with unexpected moments...