Hedda Gabler

The Portland State theater department’s revival of Henrk Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler presents one of the most controversial and angst-filled heroines in theatrical history.

A play of Victorian life from the 1890s, Hedda Gabler did not go over well with critics early on. But it survived to become a standard in the 20th century and Ibsen’s plays have become among the most performed next to Shakespeare. Many generations of famous actresses have taken their turns attempting to become one of the most fantastic and challenging female roles of the stage, including Ingrid Bergman, Annette Bening and most recently Cate Blanchett.

Hedda Gabler is a play about a spoiled, strong-willed, vivacious and slightly neurotic woman. Hedda Gabler, played by Hilary Colgan, has just been married and returned from a six-month long honeymoon with a man she doesn’t love or even like. Her husband is a young, dopey teacher named George Tesman, played by Ben Larson, who is oblivious to the fact that his wife is completely bored and repulsed by him.

The couple returns from their honeymoon to a large debt and a realization that Tesman has competition for his formerly promised professorship, which would put them further into debt. The competition is Eilert Lovborg, played by Nico Izambard, the brilliant but tormented philosopher who is a former flame of Hedda’s. Lovborg has just written a book with the help of his mistress Thea Elvsted, played by Shana Carr, and may have the edge in the professorship.

Hedda stands in stark contrast with Thea. Miss Elvsted has never been the center of attention, but has inspired Lovborg to write a book that could make him very famous. Elvsted is Lovborg’s “muse” and is the only person that helped him pull his life out of the gutter. Thea is the antithesis of Hedda, representing everything that our main character desires to be.

Hedda manipulates almost every character in the play into different omissions and occurrences that move the plot along, sometimes at a snail’s pace. Hedda gets herself trapped and the transition from hate to a strange pity captivates the audience as the third act unfolds. The final culmination is filled with misdirection, confusion and eventually, suicide.

The shining star of the show is the performance of Hillary Colgan as Hedda Gabler.

Colgan’s devious interpretation conveys the desperation of a woman doing everything she can to fight off boredom and social entrapment. From the start of the show, the spoiled beauty pushes the limits of what she can get away with in her new setting and makes the audience hate her. Colgan is excellent in playing the cold-hearted character. Her grace and airiness help her command the stage at every moment even though the audience despises her.

The performance of Nico Izambard as Lovborg is also noteworthy. As his character loses control, his smooth demeanor turns to a betrayed desperateness that leads to him going crazy. Although his heavy accent slows the timing of his lines down, the overall performance is well delivered, specifically, his descent from respectable to criminal by the end show.

The director and designer, Glenn Gauer, has done an excellent job of getting solid performances from his lead characters. However, he does not do much with the onstage movement. In fact, many scenes are done with the actors standing in the same place, talking to one another for very long periods of time.

The play in its entirety, although sometimes slow and without much movement, is worth seeing just to watch Colgan’s great performance as she works her mysterious control over the other characters.

Hedda Gabbler

Lincoln Performance Hall at Portland State University

Shows Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 28-March 3

7:30 p.m.

Next week:

Pay-What-You-CAN affair, in conjunction with the Oregon Food Bank

Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.