REPERTORY THEATRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1936, Page 5

REPERTORY THEATRE

"HEDDA GABLER" PRESENTED

The Wellington Repertory Theatre, at the Concert Chamber last night, tackled a big job in presenting the sombre drama "Hedda Gabler," for although Ibsen may not have had in his mind's eye any particular person for casting in the name part, to adequately represent it calls for histrionic talent and penetrating insight, in addition to a special ■ personality that are possessed by .very few women who would volunteer to play it. Then there are the other characters in the play, Tesman (Hedda's husband), Aunt Julia, Mrs. Elvsted, Assessor, or Judge, Brack, and that exceedingly .difficult person, Eilert Lovborg, all to be fittingly cast; and not even the role of Berta, the domestic, is an easy one to dispose of. Yet this awkward task of getting the right people for the parts and making those parts fit the wearers with the finish of the expert tailor, if taken as a whole, was capably performed and from all appearances was well "received by the audience. In this, as in some others of Ibsen's plays, the audience forms a part, a passive part, of the play. It is present, invisible and unheard, by the personages in the play.; ■ ■ For the benefit of a generation that has noj seen this play—and but for the Repertory Theatre and other societies of the kind it seems ... that it would never more see them in New Zealand —it may be explained that if the object of a play of this kind is: to hold the mirror up to; Nature'then it might have been written quite recently and first produced but a'week ago as a transcript of. life as it is today. It-is, a play about a young woman of strong character and whit^hot passion, married with no thought "of the beauty and sublimity of marriage. How Hedda Gabler, with her de luxe ideas, comes to marry a Jorgen Tesmani a student of history who has to make his name and who has been brought up in a placid domestic atmosphere that would naturally ■ -be stifling to ■ her, this is a mystery;that Ibsen leaves the audience to unveil as , best it may. But the bounds of probability, are not overstepped, arid never can be while human nature is what it is. Looked at from this angle "Hedda Gabler" as a' play is not outmoded;;its quality explains its durability, • and it leaves those who closely follow its performance uncertain whether to cast a stone at Hedda or to shed" tears for her. Whatever Ibsen's message to humanity in his day may have been, the percentage of. happy unions is perhaps very much greater 'than the play "Hedda Gabler" fnight suggest. He does, however, give- life to- his material and creates the illusion that one is seeing real people on the stage. There may have been parts of this play as it was presented last night too subtle for the multitude to discern or too brutal for the fastidious-to assimilate, but there was no- doubt at all about the general excellence of - its production, the endeavour to translate the written play into a continuous and visible exposure of domestic affairs usually kept discreetly veiled.. . Mrs. John Hastings ■ as: Hedda gave an outstanding interpretation of 'the part, over-stressing nothing,, leaving nothing undone to emphasise it. She presented Hedda as a-problem and an exceedingly difficult one-to.solve, and left it at that. She delivered her lines in a low, richly-coloured, but always clearly audible voice. ' Her gestures and movements were always just right. Few who saw her en silhouette on the darkened stage towards the- end of the play will forget her expressive, tremulant figure, striding backwards and forwards, like a tigress.. Ibsen's idea of the character appeared;to have been carefully and certainly skilfully,studied by Mrs. Hastings.; Hers was a notable performance looked at from any point of view. ''_ ~ „ Ibsen's men in "Hedda Gabler," no

doubt with intention, are made much less interesting than his. women. Mr. W. J. Mountjoy, jun.,was cast for the very difficult role of Jorgen. Tesman, Hedda's husband. It must have been hard for the audience to account for Hedda accepting him, considering what i sort of. a woman she was and the kind of man he was, as Mr. Mountjoy conceived him.

A delightful portrayal of the artless Aunt Julia and her confirmed respectability was given by Mrs. D. J. Davies, a part played with understanding and sympathy. Mrs. Elvsted was entrusted to Miss Edwina Vare, who played well along conventional lines with some feeling for the character she was called upon' to present, a woman in striking contrast with Hedda.. It was a difficult character to present and- Miss Vare played^it with conviction of its probabilities/ To Mr. H. Eaton Hurley was allotted the part of Eilert Lovborg, .a one-time wild character with brilliant gifts, offset by an • overfondness for women (especially Hedda) and drink. The part was handled with some skill. Mr. Norman Hannah was responsible for interpreting the suave and sinister Assessor Brack, a part which, he handled with great skill. The small part of Berta, a maid, was judiciously played by Mrs. C. J. McKinnon. \;\ .•.,''.■■

The make-up of the men was exceldent, for full beards and whiskers were worn in those days, and although the appearance of Jorgen Tesman and Eilert Lovborg in them caused some laughter, this quickly evaporated- as the serious complexion .of the play became apparent. The dresses of the women with full gigot sleeves of the period are described elsewhere in this issue. , ,•:■ :• r ".. ■ ;

There was but one scene, Tesman's drawing-room. . It was a masterpiece of stage setting, the furniture being of the'period of the early seventies. Where the producer, ; Mr. Leo dv Chateau, got his furnishings from; his curtains, and their rings. and ■ cornices, his pictures and ornaments is his affair.

"Hedda Gabler" will be repeated this and the following evenings. It should be seen, even twice over, for . many reasons, the least of which perhaps being to keep alive ,'the interest of playgoers in the vital drama against the time when that drama shall return to the theatre, as many think it will.