Directed by Thomas Ostermeier, this daring adaptation of Hedda Gabler asks what happens to the heart when the old certainties, like career, a house and a pension, no longer hold. Opens November 28 at BAM in New York.
11/17/2006 :: A provocative, unsparing indictment of the bourgeoisie when it was first performed in 1891, Hedda Gabler still retains its capacity to shock. Ibsen's spoiled, self-absorbed heroine responds to her dull new marriage and failed upper-class ambitions with such viciousness and malignant disregard, that within one day she has destroyed everyone around her and, ultimately, herself.
Her tragedy is timeless, and as re-envisioned by vanguard German director Thomas Ostermeier, it is startlingly immediate. In a hyper-modern apartment, the austerity of Hedda's environment somehow makes her actions all the more horrific. As in his equally audacious 2004 Next Wave debut, Nora (A Doll's House), Ostermeier effectively distills the work's raw emotional core to devastating effect. ¨
Tickets: $20 - 60. Performed in German with English titles.
When: November 28 - December 2 at 7:30pm
Where: BAM Harvey Theater,651 Fulton Street(between Ashland Place and Rockwell Place), Brooklyn
Info: (718)636-4100 or tickets@BAM.org
Related events:
BAMDIALOGUE WITH THOMAS OSTERMEIER
November 29 at 6pm
BAM ROSE CINEMAS
($8; $4 FOR FRIENDS OF BAM)
BAMTALK: RE-IMAGINING IBSEN FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
October 28 at 3pm
BAM HILLMAN ATTIC STUDIO
TICKETS: $10 ($5 FOR FRIENDS OF BAM)