Hedda Gabler

It has been such a challenging and long time coming, but I was delighted to join Southwick Players for my first live review back after the various lockdowns, to enjoy their production of Hedda Gabler. Originally written in 1890, by Henrik Ibsen, this adaptation is the more recent and definitely more timeless version by Patrick Marber that first premiered at the National Theatre in London, opening the play to an entirely new audience.

The play is a challenging piece, both for the audience and the cast, who rose to the Scandinavian challenge wonderfully, with its dark and depressing undercurrent based on the oppressive situation our protagonist, Hedda, has got herself into. Victoria Storm was wonderfully convincing in the role, delivering an at once believable and angst ridden portrait of the trapped in a loveless marriage settler. She was abley supported by husband Tesman, Phil Nair-Brown, and Brack the judge played by Dave Balfe both seasoned performers with the acting credentials to match. Livvie Gilpin, Justine Smith and Nettie Sheridan delivered realistic and enjoyable performances in the supporting female parts. However, it was Harry Freeman, a recent London College of Music graduate that stood out in his first on stage outing with the players, delivering an entirely realistic performance as Lovborg the talented young writer, childhood friend and would be rival to Tesman. The climatic chaos of the piece is genius and were incredibly well punctuated by the rail gun shots on stage, leaving the audience, myself included, shocked and moved.

Director, Gary Cook and Producer, Debbie Creissen should be incredibly proud of the tour-de-force first night performance as it was as enjoyable as it was dark. The use of simple fixed set and effective lighting, music and costumes rounded off the 70's vibe perfectly.

A thoroughly haunting and realistic production!

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