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Hedda triumphs over adversity
Hedda Gabler Highbury Theatre Centre, Sutton Coldfield **** THE prospect of an evening of Ibsen can
be a daunting one for a prospective audience. Ian Appleby’s production,
ably supported by a splendid set, ensures that the patrons need have no
qualms – and this makes it worth an extra medal, because the weeks
leading up to the first night were not exactly easy. With three weeks to opening night, the actress
playing the title role withdrew and Faye Hatch, who had until then been
Mrs Elvsted, took over. It was another week before Marion Pritchett was
recruited as the replacement Mrs Elvsted – and let it be said at once
that no one in the first-night audience could have suspected a thing. Both replacements rose to the challenges they had
taken on and both acquitted themselves with distinction. Faye Hatch, in
particular, wears the huge central role like a tailored suit. This is a
confident account of a confident, prickly character. Meanwhile, Marion Pritchett’s Mrs Elvsted is
similarly pleasing in her mastery of her fortnight-old responsibilities.
Both actresses deserve congratulations – as.indeed do the other members
of the cast, because when newcomers arrive at a late rehearsal stage
there are inevitably adjustments to be made. Whatever those adjustments
were, they don’t show. This is a production that is served up as a
disciplined package, asking for no allowances – and not needing any. Lee Davies turns up early on in a pair of
startling trousers and clearly well-drilled mode, to deliver a somewhat
declamatory Jorgen Tesman. Barbara Garrett (Julia Tesman) cloaks her
character’s over-generosity in an inexorable rolling delivery, and
Richard Irons makes the most of the sinister undertones of Judge Brack,
who is not above indulging in a spot of blackmail. One of the particularly interesting characters is
Berthe the maid, played by Sandra Haynes. She is required to offer
an unexpected “Bless you” to Hedda, and whenever she is loitering in the
background there is no knowing what she will say next. Robert Laird is
Ejlert Loevborg, recovering alcoholic and former lover of Hedda.
Inevitably, he is doing himself no good by returning into Hedda’s
circle. He doesn’t do Hedda a fat lot of good, either. . . This is a fine production that has risen above
its troubles and does not have a weak link. To 19.11.11. John Slim |
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