Hedda Gabler: Stability or Scandal
Henrik Ibsen's Femme Fatale: Marital Solidity or Burning Obsession
Actress Fiona Reid sheds more light on the fateful choices of Ibsen's complex protagonist and her work with Shaw cast member Sharry Flett as Thea Elvsted.
It must be terrible to be married in name only. Yet that’s exactly what the tempestuous Hedda Gabler decides she must do.
In the final installment of this three part series, Actress Fiona Reid sheds more light on her interpretation of Henrik Ibsen’s famed femme fatale. She also chats about her work with cast member Sharry Flett in this acclaimed 1991 Shaw Festival production..
Why did Hedda marry George Tesman?
"Hedda went for a man who would look after her and I think she cares for George and wants it to work out. She wants to be looked after and cared for and she chose someone who did not challenge her and where that becomes painfully evident, is when she sees Tesman and Löveborg side by side and she thinks "My God, what have I done to myself?"
And Hedda does not want anyone else to have these men either. Look her relationship with Thea. There a lot of women like that around today. Very possessive.
"What’s really fascinating is that Sharry (Flett) and I went to university together. And Sharry said she was a bit in awe of me at university and she was a tiny bit frightened of me. So there was an interesting parallel that I think we enjoyed very much."
Hedda’s jealousy is so creative – look what she does to Lovebörg!
"I don’t think Hedda gets on well with other women at all. She doesn’t have any friends and there is a line that was cut from our adaptation “I suppose all our best friends are in the country.” (Director) Judith (Thompson) has her saying “I have no friends.” But it’s terribly sad. Hedda's one of these people that people think '"Oh, she has friends". They think Hedda is always surrounded but she isn’t. She does not make friends easily and she probably can’t make small talk at all. She has such a vicious sense of irony. She’s impossible as far as being domesticated is concerned. But it’s intriguing because once you are caught, you go well why does she permit this.. but in a sense once Hedda gets to the burning of the manuscript, she has no choice at all.
As Hedda, I am convinced that Thea has driven Lovebörg to this, that she ruined him. The tempting him to drink is because he’s taunted me about having no courage, so I think "Alright .Let’s see if you have any courage then. Let’s see what your made of." It’s all testing testing…"
And then Hedda challenges Lovebörg to the ultimate test …. is he lashing out at her?
"I don’t think Hedda can control Lovebörg. His self loathing is fairly intense because he doesn’t allow her to control him when he goes to the party. He doesn’t do what she wants. He’s on a spiral and Hedda does have a devastating effect on him. I doubt that he would blame her for it. It’s simply that he is living life on a very narrow tightrope by the time he meets Hedda. He already has his life on a really thin thread. Thea is frightened about his being in the city for a really good reason. I think Hedda cannot stand the fact that Lovebörg has been tamed and domesticated by Thea. For anybody but Lovebörg, she would find it acceptable."
They are on the same intellectual wavelength.
"Completely, and their souls are matched. Someone said to Hedda that Lovebörg is all "mysteries, compressions and metaphors." Everything in Hedda's life is the opposite, is submitting to definition, and not the mention the fact that she’s pregnant. It's Tesman's baby, and I think that adds to the revulsion to be carrying the baby of the man that seems so reduced when you put him opposite Lovebörg.
Is it hard to play Hedda Gabler?
"I go in one hour and half before and I don’t usually do that for a play. But I love doing it. I don’t know why I love it. I suppose it’s because I find Hedda so alive and every second is fulfilled with possibility and I find it immensely satisfying. I guess because I am not playing the suffering, I am playing someone trying to get out of a prison as opposed to someone … because I can’t see how it appears to other people. In other words, it may appear self destructive to other people, but it for me, it’s a way out. I think I connect on many levels with Hedda. I was brought up with certainly the military background. I was very much wanting to live in a man’s world as opposed to being anybody’s darling. Definitely, feeling "Oh God, is this world for me?" in terms of having to fit in. I feel a connection – in wanting to test things and not appreciate their destructive consequences."
Fast forward to 2008.
Fiona Reid is a very busy lady. After her Breakout Performance in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance in 2007 at Stratford, Fiona returns to Stratford in this year in The Music Man as Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn. Currently, she stars opposite Seana McKenna at Canstage in Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House.
