Hedda at BAM -- Lean and Very Mean
Hedda at BAM -- Lean and Very Mean
#0Hedda at BAM -- Lean and Very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 11:29am
God knows there are spoilers so proceed carefully if you're the sensitive type -- although I've tried to be oblique about some surprises...
Andrew Upton's adaptation of Hedda Gabler that's being presented currently at BAM is the recreation of a 2004 Sydney Theater Company production featuring the original Australian cast. Upton’s pared down script and somewhat contemporary language are bracing. Upton's wife, Cate Blanchett, is the chief draw and I dare any one to take their eyes off of her. She would have been in her element in the day when stage stars were THE stars in the heavens. Kit Cornell, Maude Adams -- we're talking that sort of carraige and charisma. She uses her willowy, long frame to great effect as Hedda -- stalking the musty confines of her “dream” house, staring out the enormous windows like a caged animal, displaying an appetite for distraction that is unfulfilled and frenzied. Deeply conflicted, she is the sort of exhibitionist that cannot bear to be really seen; keenly aware of what people think but barely bothering with the manners and decorous words that would find favor. As the play opens, this Hedda has almost already gone over the edge.
The Tesman home is itself an antagonist. The set evokes a bleak, withered grandeur of a house past it’s prime. You can smell the mildew.
Pacing. Patience. The key to any production of HEDDA GABLER in my opinion, is holding back the tide of Hedda’s fury, building to the ultimate expression of her angst. Blanchett barely conceals Hedda’s contempt for those around her. Many of her lines are delivered with deliberate mocking and sarcasm, her stately visage contorted into the taunting faces of a petulant child. This woman seems capable of most anything from the moment she appears onstage. She cannot control her manner at all. Given the tenor of the opening action, where do you go? The director, Robyn Nevin, stages Hedda and Thea’s scenes with menace and a giant burst of brutality that made me gasp. Justine Clark as Thea Elvsted (bearing a great resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter in – well almost any movie Helena Bonham Carter has ever been in) is sweet, soulful and dignified. I have seen Thea played for laughs and made to seem simpering and silly so that Hedda appears less villainous in her manipulations. Nevin will have none of that. This Hedda is no anti-heroine. She is downright -- dare I say the word –WICKED.
Jorgen Tesman, Hedda’s make-do husband, is a fussy, drab third-tier academic petted and cosseted by his old aunties. As brought to life by Anthony Weigh, he has the graceless manners of a longtime bachelor unused to fine company, blissfully self-absorbed, and you just know he smells bad to boot. Hedda mentions once that she initially walked and conversed with him out of pity. One can imagine, given Hedda’s impulsiveness, that she could have married him – but how miserable her choices must have been to be so desperate.
Hugo Weaving, best known as the elf king from THE LORD OF THE RINGS series makes an uncommon Judge Brack. Often played with an unctiousness worthy of Snidely Whiplash, Brack gives Weaving a chance to surprise us with a dashing, handsome dandy. Would it be so bad to find some diversion with this magnetic and manipulative man? He makes an attractive, beckoning spider.
After hearing his soulful brilliance extolled for over an hour, Eilert Lovborg must make an impressive appearance. To paraphrase Melville, reality does not outrun apprehension. I was expecting a toussled romantic figure – Daniel Day Lewis in curls. Aden Young seems small next to Blanchett, her romantic fantasies mere projections on a weak man that she had delusions of controlling. Nothing does a better job of portraying Hedda’s mental state than the casting of the object of her obsession.
I do not wish to spill what happens in the end, or rather, the staging. I will say that the adaptation has altered the last line to a mere fragment. Hedda has spent 3 hours doing what people don’t do – I was relieved for her rather than shocked or disturbed. One imagines that this woman, raised as her father’s companion, kept what was most shocking of all a secret buried inside of her.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#1re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 11:35amThanks for that well-written review. Can't wait to see this Friday.
#2re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 11:39ami posted in your honor margo. you're so generous with your experience and i often feel at a loss to comment on anything extensively -- but this is a play i've done twice so i'm somewhat at home.
#3re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:10pm
Going tonight and cannot wait.
What's the run time?
#4re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:11pm2 1/2 w/ intermission give or take.
#6re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:19pmnot that i'm logrolling but -- love your current ava, MEF.
#7re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:21pmI know, isn't it just the cat's meow? I'm warming up to the idea of Baranski as Mame more and more every day.
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#8re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:41pm
It is physically painful to me that I'm going to miss this production by a mere TWO days. I would give anything to see this woman live - and the role seems very well-suited.
That was a wonderful read, GG - between yours and Margo's (you better!) I'll at least have a vicarious thrill.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#9re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:55pm
Threadjack --
MEF, when are you seeing Mame?
#10re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 3:33pm
I'm not sure off the top of my head, but it's in early June. My friend who lives in DC is getting the tickets.
ETA-Probably the first weekend of June.
Updated On: 3/1/06 at 03:33 PM
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#11re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/1/06 at 4:25pm
That's when I'm going as well. 
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#12re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:21amThanks for a thought-provoking review. Cate is probably my favorite actress because she so completely embodies every role I've ever seen her play on the big screen. I'm excited to see her "transformation" for this role.
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#13re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:34am
I'm seeing it next Tuesday and can't wait. Thanks for the review!
#14re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:40amI thought Blanchett was fascinating in PLENTY in London a few years ago - sorry I will miss this one! Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
#15re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 5:52amI'm going to post a more in-depth review later, but I just want to say that in short, it's amazing. Cate Blanchett is a natural on-stage.
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#16re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 6:48am
" Cate Blanchett is a natural onstage"
This statement strikes me as odd, she was appearing on Melbourne and Sydney stages long before she became a movie star. I guess you weren't aware that she isn't one of these movie actresses who take to the stage to try to prove they are the real Mc Coy. She earned her stage stripes years ago!
#17re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:14pmBelieve me, I know that Blanchett is no theatrical novice---I have friends who have worked with her and seen her perform in Australia. I was just commenting that she seems very relaxed and at home on stage, something that some people who make their livings in the theatre aren't always.
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#18re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:49pm
My tickets are for 3/26.
Thanks for the review, GG!
More excited than ever!
#19re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/2/06 at 1:14pmI'm seeing this in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!
#20re: Hedda at BAM -- Lean and very Mean
Posted: 3/3/06 at 9:16am
hey MEFFIE!! please post your comments here -- i'm so interested in what you saw and thought!
ps. here is a bit of the ny post review that i think is absolute bull****: "Playing Hedda as if she were still channeling Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," the Oscar winner delivers a mannered performance. Hyperactively flittering about the stage and making manic gestures, she only fitfully conveys the suicidal ennui of her character. "
the reviewer has decidesd that hedda gabler has "suicidal ennui". now don't that beat all. yeah -- she's just bored. Frank Scheck is a stupid bitch.
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