Hedda in the Heights
A modern retelling of Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler"
by
Robert Thomas Noll & Pamela V. Noll
4W / 3M
Approximate Playing Time: 90 Minutes
Nearly a hundred and twenty-five years ago, Henrik Ibsen wrote Hedda Gabler, depicting the quintessential liberated woman ? for that era. Hedda's type is all too familiar to us even now: a spoiled rich girl who has spent her whole life devoted to herself and her desires, and decimating the men around her. Robert and Pamela Noll’s adaptation, set today in the affluent neighborhood of Shaker Heights, Ohio, begins not long after Hedda’s father, the only man she ever respected, sustained financial ruin and committed suicide. Subsequently Hedda has married philosophy professor George Tesman despite her antipathy for his social status and lack of charisma. Hedda and George have just returned from their honeymoon and she is overwhelmed with boredom, taking out her dissatisfaction on George’s doting Aunt Julia who is concerned that George is spending too much money setting up a home beyond his means to please his beautiful new wife. An old friend, Judge Brack arrives intent on spurring a “friends with benefits” relationship with Hedda behind George’s back?but Hedda has no real interest in Brack. The intrigue is in a passionate ex-lover, the once reckless and drunken Eilert Lovberg, who proves to be George’s talented rival for a tenured position at the university. So many games to play; so many men to manipulate. When Thea Elvsted, a married women, contacts George to help her check on her own lover, Eilert with whom she collaborated on an exciting new manuscript, Hedda initiates a deadly game to thwart Thea’s efforts to keep Eilert sober and on track to publish his book. Hedda exhibits no sense of empathy or shame in manipulating and destroying others. Despite adhering faithfully to Ibsen's classic tale, one cannot help but feel stunned when the resolution is reached in this gripping feminist story.
$60.00 Royalty per Performance
$20.00 Single-Use Copyright Fees