Her Father’s Daughter – an exciting new adaptation of Hedda Gabler that drags Ibsen from a 19th Century drawing room to the 2018 streets of Chapel Street will be presented at the Prahran Council Chambers from 22 May 2018.
One of theatre’s greatest characters, Hedda Gabler is, after all this time, also “one of the few female roles which fights for a woman to not just exist, to be perfect or equal, but to be human,” says Producer Siobhan Connors.
Siobhan is collaborating with actor Cait Spiker, writer Keziah Warner and director Cathy Hunt to bring this new adaptation to life. “To put performers against that palpable historical backdrop of privilege, and see their frustrations articulated through Keziah’s sharp and insightful writing, truly compels me,” says Hunt.
In the wake of the #metoo and Times Up movements, this all female creative team (including Production Designer Eloise Kent, Lighting Designer Megz Evans and Sound Designer Jess Keeffe) feels compelled to re-claim Hedda Gabler.
“Only three of the thirteen versions I’ve read were by women,” says Warner. “It feels important to start tipping those scales, and Her Father’s Daughter is my attempt at the version of Hedda Gabler I wish I could have read. To take Hedda from a psychological study or an actor’s challenge and make her a living, breathing, contemporary woman.”
For Hunt, the opportunity to tackle Hedda Gabler has been a long time coming. “I was cast as Hedda at university in York, but was prevented from playing the role when the production was postponed.” This left an urge to explore the work further that has never been relieved – until now.
“The older I get, the stranger and more depressing it seems how life, privilege, particularly gendered privilege, entitlement and status work,” says Hunt. “Hedda Gabler’s frustration at not being properly heard or fully seen is a kind of resistance to the social order that would have her fit comprehensibly within its confines.”
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next. Uncertainty allows for hope and I am fascinated by Hedda’s relationship to both hope and despair. And what that means for us all right now.” – Ursula Le Guin
Director: Cathy Hunt Featuring: Cait Spiker, Fabio Motta, Luke Mulquiney, Syrie Payne, Laila Thacker, Tim Wotherspoon Production Designer: Eloise Kent Lighting Designer: Megz Evans Sound Designer: Jess Keeffe Producer: Siobhan Connors Writer: Keziah Warner
Her Father’s Daughter
Prahran Council Chambers, 180 Greville Street, Prahran
Season: 22 May – 3 June 2018
Information and Bookings: www.trybooking.com