This year’s theatre performances begin with a bang. Just one month into the school year, the theatre is already opening for the dramatic performance of “Hedda Gabler.”
Junior Maggie Williams plays Hedda Gabler, the protagonist of the story. She is married to an unfavorable gentleman, Jürgen Tesman, and feels trapped in a life she did not expect to live. Gabler is a strong young woman, yet she has no sense of empathy. Her prized possession is her father’s pistol, which protected her from her ex-lover Eilert Lövborg.
Sophomore Austin Madison plays Lövborg, the antagonist of the story. This character is a brilliant scholar, but while he is with Gabler, he gains the reputation of a drunk. After she leaves him, he becomes an alcoholic. Lövborg writes a book to impress Gabler in hopes of getting her back, yet he finds out she is married to another. Ironically, he is competing with this other, Jürgen Tesman, for a position at a university.
Madison quotes a line from the play that he believes sums up the plot: “It was your lust for life that was behind our companionship.” The scenic and lighting crew will captivate the audience through Gabler’s thoughts. The people behind the scene and lighting are Assistant Professor for Theatre Scott Chapman and Longwood student Bill Miller. They help create a world for the characters in Victorian Norway. The whole play takes place in a living room, and the lighting is used to show this world through Gabler’s eyes, emphasizing how cold and trapped she feels.
The play is directed by Program Director of Theatre Gene Muto. Muto feels the cast is doing terrific and the actors match the characters well, which he says does not always happen. “More students should take advantage of the arts and theatre programs at Longwood because it’s cheaper than a movie and [you] get to see a classic,” Muto said.
Muto is approaching the story without traditional realism. That is, there are no walls and no doors – just the cold world that Gabler has found herself in.
This is an intellectual drama and psychological thriller of a classic modernized play. This play seems timeless because many people today can relate to Gabler’s feeling of being trapped. According to Williams, it is not just a drama. She said, “This is a show that will really make you think afterwards.”
There are two weeks of show times. The performances will be Sept. 26-29 and Oct. 3-6 at the Center for Communication Studies and Theatre Building (CSTAC) auditorium. Thursdays through Saturday shows are at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
