Dig Deeper | Hedda Gabler
Director's Note | By Giulia Romano
This is a reckoning: the last two days of a woman’s life, an annihilation of life itself, the quest for agency, a scream inside the mouth of a woman gasping for air, longing to be something more than ordinary.
This is a reckoning: love in the face of fear, queerness in spaces it has been denied, female rage at all times, with no questions asked.
This is a reckoning: the aching in my soul, the desperate need for approval, the quest for control, the need to prove my worth, to secure a future, to remain useful, to find my place, to be indispensable, to maintain agency.
This is a reckoning: everything I could ever want but can’t allow myself to have, boundaries and expectations placed on me that I did not ask for.
This is a reckoning: to be named a monster, but only to be deeply, irrevocably, and viscerally human like you.
This is a reckoning: not a sob story, but a tragedy of the shards of glass that are the human condition—the beautiful and grotesque parts of you, me and Hedda Gabler.
This is a reckoning: the need to be something more than I am, but being riddled with shame, an attempt to live in alignment with myself but can’t. Trapped inside a prison I did not build or did not know that was being built around me.
This is a reckoning: to be powerless and have nowhere to go, to turn to destruction because that is the only thing that will get me through, to shut out love when that is the only truth I will ever need.
This is a reckoning: a quest to figure out why, and continue not to know why, the social masks we put on every day and work so hard to keep for fear of not belonging.
This is a reckoning: one that transcends time, space, and culture.
This is a reckoning: one where we gather in the prison together, destroy, put back and turn into something beautiful.
This is a reckoning.
Thank you for coming,
I dedicate these performances to Kristina Penner; may you rest in peace.
Hedda Gabler - The World of the Production | by Grace Fitzgerald, Production Dramaturg
Realism
Emerging in the 19th century, realism was an artistic and literary movement that rejected the current status quo, one that defined art as a search for the ideal. Rather than aiming to invent new and extraordinary worlds inhabited by heroes and royalty, realism sought to place ordinary people and everyday life at the forefront. Unafraid of confronting gritty, harsh truths, realist playwrights staged modern life and its trials onstage like never before. Henrik Ibsen, the playwright of Hedda Gabler, tackled complex, everyday topics like family, marriage, and shame, earning him the title of the father of realism.
Realism allowed for audiences to see themselves and the world around them onstage, while still remaining incredibly theatrically compelling. Through realism, the ordinary becomes a site of profound tragedy.
The History of Hedda
Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, originally produced in 1891, remains one of the most iconic plays of all time, and its titular character one of drama’s most nuanced. Hedda is often described as the female Hamlet thanks to her great complexity. Her actions are often divisive and unexpected, which was especially controversial during the play’s premiere thanks to her gender.
Hedda consistently negates traditional gender roles, despite the play’s persistence to cage her within her gender. An example of this is her refusal to take on her husband’s last name, while she retains her maiden Gabler instead. Ibsen explained his intention was to “indicate that Hedda, as a personality, is to be regarded rather as her father’s daughter than as her husband’s wife,” highlighting her desperate search for agency right from the play’s title.
Historically, many critics have been unsure of what to make of Hedda as a woman who not only operated outside of traditional femininity, but also acted as an unfavourable heroine. Despite this, Hedda’s defiance of traditional roles continues to fascinate audiences and create conversation about gender and autonomy.
Subverting the Canon
How does one subvert the canon? It is one thing to take traditional texts and place them in a more modern context, therefore highlighting parallels and newfound relevancy. It is an added layer entirely to take established works and turn them on their heads, overthrowing existing hierarchies and introducing a new kind of order. This is what we see in Giulia Romano’s fresh new imagining of Hedda Gabler, which redefines power, secrecy, and shame by introducing a female Eilert Lovborg.
Even in the original text Lovborg inhabits a precarious position while trying to balance his desire and addiction throughout the play. Lovborg understands power because he knows what it is to lose it; he returns at the beginning of the play having recently recovered from a fall from grace, but his shame continues to haunt him. He understands the tightrope that must be walked to attempt to maintain his renewed identity.
This production’s Lovborg understands not only this perception of power, but also one stemming from gender. She enters the stage interrupting Tesman and Bracht’s boys’ club with her new sobriety and her new book, breaking into their masculine world of academia with achievements of her own. As Lovborg circles these men with her literary capabilities and immense success, the stakes rise not only because of her talent, but also her ability to flourish as a female in the field.
It should also be noted that in this iteration the chemistry between Lovborg and Hedda exists in secrecy. This is not only thanks to Hedda’s new marriage, but also because of this newfound queerness between them. Lovborg captures the attention of the women in this world, but she also allows them to bring out her vulnerability and earnest desire. Queerness introduces a novel idea of freedom, of passion, and of love to not only Lovborg, but also to Hedda, ever constricted by the men in her life. The female Lovborg opens a door to possibility, if only Hedda is able to consider the consequences of holding it open.
Sources
Akram, Z., Imtiaz, U., & Shafiq, S. (2020). Gender subversion: A cultural reconsideration through a fairy tale. Volume V Issue I, V(I), 428–437. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(v-i).44
Balanescu, M. (2025, October 25). Monster or victim?: The fascination of Hedda Gabler, the “female hamlet” who divides opinion. BBC. Bbc.Com. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20251023-hedda-gabler-the-divisive-female-hamlet
Humanist heritage: Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906). (2017). Humanist Heritage. https://heritage.humanists.uk/henrik-ibsen/
Ibsen, H. (1973). Hedda Gabler.
Playbill. (2015, December 14). Hedda Gabler (Broadway, criterion center stage right, 1994). Playbill. https://playbill.com/production/hedda-gabler-criterion-center-stage-right-vault-0000003822
Community Outreach - The Queer & Trans Health Collective
The whole team of Hedda Gabler is thrilled to partner with the Queer & Trans Health Collective (QTHC). As described on their website, the QTHC is “an Edmonton-based, grassroots health organization run by and for queer and trans community members.” The QTHC provides a variety of programming, services, and resources to empower the city’s LGBTQIA+ community through education on sexual health, harm reduction, and community research. The QTHC is an invaluable organization that ensures queer and trans Edmontonians have equitable access to both health and wellness. They have generously provided us with a collection of resources that you can find in our lobby at every show!
To learn more about the QTHC and support their deeply impactful work, you can check out their website: www.ourhealthyeg.ca.