By Randi Tullio

The University Drama Department’s production of “Hedda Gabler” was filled with energy and talent on its opening night. The storyline is a bit difficult to get a firm grasp on, but it was still possible to get the general idea. The intricate plot also meant complex characters, all of whom were marvelously performed by the student actors. Lastly, a certain onstage prop was mystifying, yet added to the atmosphere of the world the actors created: the several projection screens that surrounded the sides of the stage.

The play begins with the lights dimmed and Hedda curled up on the sofa in the center of the stage, twitching and sitting up at the drop of a hat. Hedda’s husband, Tesman, enters the stage, sits down next to his wife and gently touches her shoulders. The room abruptly lights up and the two characters start conversing as if nothing is unusual. It is clear however, by Hedda’s coldness and stony face, that she is miserable in her marriage to Tesman. Whenever she is talking to her husband, her voice is always stern, never soft. If the topic of conversation is about her husband, a frown takes over her face. Her reason for being unhappy in her marriage is that Tesman spent their entire honeymoon (several months long, mind you) doing research and writing a book. That sort of behavior makes him look like a terrible man-what person in his/her right mind would do work and ignore his/her spouse on their one and only honeymoon?

However, now that Tesman and Hedda are back home in their beautiful dream house, he treats her differently. He treats her so tenderly and lovingly and always looks upon her with adoration in his eyes. When speaking of her to others, he can’t help but praise her. He is so overjoyed with her pregnancy of his child, yet she’d rather not talk about it to his Aunt Juliana, who is so anxious for a niece/nephew. Most other women would be sharing the joy of a pregnancy with her husband, but not Hedda, due to her unhappiness in her marriage.

This burden of Hedda’s is not apparent in her conversation with others-especially with other men. In a later scene, when she and Judge Brack are all alone together, she appears much more pleasant to be around. She is quite sarcastic with him, but she seems more willing to talk, since the replies she makes to Brack’s comments and questions are not the curt, one-word answers she gives her husband. Part of the reason for this may be because Brack obviously has feelings for her. Brack is able to conceal this from Hedda’s husband, however, given that he is slick and charismatic. Student Andrew Zimmer’s acting skills shine in this role.

Hedda also seems to be an uninhibited woman – when it comes to men other than her husband, that is. When Eilert Lovborg, Tesman’s writing competitor, comes to town, Hedda insists he came to visit their home. Perhaps this is because (though it is only suggested, not actually said) Lovborg is a former boyfriend of Hedda. Later in the play, the two are alone and end up kissing briefly.

Hedda shoots herself to death at the end of the play (after Lovborg kills himself with a pistol she provided for him), probably to put herself out of her misery. Early in the story, she says she fears scandal and would never want to do anything that would ruin her. So instead of dealing with all of the conflict she herself has created, she cuts out before she has to deal with legal troubles. Hedda has put herself into all of these situations herself, so there is no sympathy for her. To marry simply because no other high society man will propose to you is a terrible reason. To ruin and end the lives of others because you are miserable is not a legitimate excuse. The play ends immediately after Hedda’s death, so there is no way of knowing if the remaining characters’ lives shaped up once she is gone.

The language sharply contrasted with the visual aspects of the play. Hedda wore dark, beautiful dresses with lace collars and sleeve hems. Berta, the Tesmans’ maid, wore a bonnet and an apron at all times. The room of the Tesmans’ home where all of the action took place was decorated simply; the furniture looked like it was from a few centuries ago. Yet the language seemed contemporary, quite similar to the ways that people speak and write today. The time in which the play was supposed to take place was not obvious.

The stage was surrounded by several projection screens that were filled with a variety of pictures: of General Gabler, landscapes, people sitting at tables and the most unusual of all, a set of eyes wildly looking back and forth and blinking. It was difficult to understand the purpose of these photographs or what some of them even had to do with the play.

Overall, the play was best in its actors’ performances. Kirsten Scoles, who played Hedda, really took to her character. The characters in the story were all very complex, and the students’ acting skills really shined in this performance.