Hedda Gabler

By: Henrik Ibsen, Doug Hughes - English Version

Narrated by: Joshua Bitton, JD Cullum, Gregory Harrison, Shannon Holt, Elizabeth Ruscio, Jocelyn Towne, Karen Malina White

Hedda and George have just returned from their honeymoon, but when her former lover Eilert appears with a brilliant new manuscript, George’s hopes for a professorship are dimmed. Hedda’s desperate dissatisfaction with her life leads to dangerous choices in this startling portrait of a woman hell-bent on destruction.

Recorded before a live audience at the UCLA James Bridges Theater in June 2019.

Directed by Debbie Devine
Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg
Josh Bitton as Eilert Lovborg
JD Cullum as George Tesman
Gregory Harrison as Judge Brack
Shannon Holt as Aunt Julie
Tesman Elizabeth Ruscio as Berta
Jocelyn Towne as Hedda Gabler
Karen Malina White as Mrs. Thea Elvsted

Associate Artistic Director: Anna Lyse Erikson
Recording Engineer, Sound Designer, Mixer: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood
Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin
Foley Artist: Brian Wallace
Production Manager: Elena Cruz
Editor: Neil Wogenson

Public Domain (P)2019 L.A. Theatre Works

Solid Play, Excellent Performance

I'm no expert on Serious Victorian Drama, but Hedda Gabler is almost my platonic ideal for it. It is about a middle- to upper-middle class woman (Hedda Gabler) unhappy in her marriage to a doltish academic, whose professional rival just happens to be an old flame of hers, and the rival's assistant just happens to be an old friend of the husband. When the latter two appear in Hedda Gabler's life she, at breaking point over her unfulfilling existence, responds to the situation by making everyone as miserable as possible.

Hedda's character is by far the best part of the play. The others are all archetypes, well-done archetypes, but Hedda is the most fleshed out. The play shines as a character study of a woman with an all-consuming fear of any scandal, who also compulsively does erratic things. The actress does an amazing job with her role: she really does come off as a quivering ball of overwrought feelings.

It is not just her: all the actors do good work here. Be it the purehearted heroine, the cool cynic, or the nerdy poindexter, everyone sounds exactly like the character they are playing, and exactly unlike everyone else. I find it easy with some audioplays to lose track of who is who, given the lack of visuals or a text constantly putting an "x said" next to dialogue. Here there was no problem. Every character was vibrantly portrayed. The play itself is good, but as a production this is one of the best I have encountered on Audible.

Deconstructing of the villainess

I think the tragedy of Hedda is her being Hedda. A white, conservative, sexually repressed, socially conformist who thinks she’s more than she’s is and much more deserving than her worth.
I say this as someone who adore a villainess who schemesb and plots and indulges with in her victims anguish and hopelessness that she designed so cunningly and brutally.
But, we’re in a realest play, not a deliciously dark melodrama where one shines the most by being the villainess and the change bringer in the narrative, and that’s Hedda’a true tragedy.

Magnificent Performance of Compelling Classic

Good translation, including the innuendo for flirtatious dialogue. Plays are both an audio and visual medium. The performances were powerful and brought this non-visual translation to life.

Perhaps this didn’t translate well

This kind of play has outlived its time. The story is not for today’s tastes. The actors all shouted and overacted. Hedda’s husband sounded like a woman with a low voice. The judge was the most natural but even he could not overcome the last terrible line of this awful play.