One show with two casts takes the stage
John Krudy
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Arts
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In Henrik Ibsen's realist play, Hedda, the ambitious wife of an academic, is played in Cast A by senior Heidi Schroeder as a conformist to society. In Cast B, junior Kate Jones portrays Hedda as suffering from self-inflicted torture and worry.
"The actors make different decisions about the characters," said Director George Angell, professor of theatre. "I ask the same questions, but they have different answers. Kate's Hedda is more vulnerable. Heidi's is more contained, stately, icier."
Schroeder plays her part with a little more confidence than seems right for such a tortured character. She's charming with her friend Thea (senior Betsy Stone) and jaunty in her high riding boots. As the plays goes on, she gets flirtier with the men, yet reserved in more personal scenes. That reserve seems imposed by society, as she aspires to rise but struggles to keep to her place.
In the second cast, Jones plays a less confident Hedda. She paces nervously, and her growing despair shines through more than with Schroeder.
She fiddles with her props, but counteracts her nervous twitching by confidently holding the pistol that features prominently in the play. She succinctly displays the back-and-forth emotions of a woman seeking meaning, but contained by society.
Stone is convincingly nervy in her role as Hedda's ill-treated friend in Cast A. Sophomore Cory Drewry plays a devoted and bookish Tesman, Hedda's husband, countering his ambitious and stylish wife.
Freshman Brian Thomas is the witty and dashing Lovborg - his Beat clothes indicate his opposition to the stodgy Tesman.
And senior John Scribner, as Congressman Brack, adds humor and flirtation to his scenes with Schroeder.
Sophomore Joel Pavelski's Congressman Brack bears a harder edge than Scribner's, but connects well with Jones.
Sophomore Garrett Brown plays Tesman, and is a little harder to laugh at than Drewry. Junior Christian Campbell is a smooth Lovborg, playing up the sexual element of his past relationship with Hedda.
While Ibsen set "Hedda" in Norway during the 19th century, the Players' version takes place in America, in 1960. That setting keeps the play from seeming archaic to modern viewers, but it keeps it set in a time identified with an oppressive social culture.
The open stage, in two levels, contains a parlor and sitting room, decorated with period furniture, a picture of a World War II veteran (Hedda's father), and a record player. The record player features prominently, singing pieces from The Drifters to Frank Sinatra - music that somehow fit the play's witty moments and dark themes.
The lighting is nuanced. The panel behind and above the stage gently blends shades of light and dark to indicate an evening or dawn, when the men head out for mischief or the women fall asleep waiting for their return. During day scenes, there's a flash of light on the stair, implying a window in an unseen hall.
Angell said the actors have some freedom around the stage, but can't stray too far.
"One thing that's the same in both casts is the staging, as in the crucial moments," Angell said. "They have to do those at the right time - but one cast will act part of a scene up there, by the French doors, or down here, by the fireplace," he said, pointing to the far and near ends of the stage.
Angell said each cast has never seen the other rehearse, nor have the actors compared their roles. Because of that, "there are quite a few things markedly different."
The play achieves its ambitious goal of exploring Hedda's character and that of her peers. Both casts will draw in viewers and force them to tangle with perennial questions of society, rebellion and those ostensibly cheery but facetious friendships and loves.
At 2 hours, 40 minutes, it may be tough to see both casts.
But whoever does can make a fascinating comparison between the interpretations of the same play, and better understand the relations of Hedda to herself and the world.
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