Hedda Gabler @ Rutherford House

Hedda Gabler is the quintessential English 30 required reading play. And there’s good reason for it. This is a magnificent piece of literature that deserves to be studied and re-imagined at every opportunity.

I won’t go into the plot or the authors ideas about humanity that are presented in the play. But I will say that there is an interesting connection between this play and the show Etiquette that is showing at Leva Cafe. Hedda Gabler was written by a Swedish writer by the name of Henrik Ibsen around the end of the twentieth century. Ibsen also wrote A Doll’s House, which deals with similar attitudes about women. A Doll’s House plays a pivotal role in the plot of Etiquette. It’s interesting how both these pieces found their way into the Canoe Theatre Festival.

But I do want to talk about my experience of this imagining of Hedda Gabler. The show is set in the Rutherford House on the University of Alberta campus. The actors move about the house interacting with each other and the antiques in the house, all the while the audience of no more than fifteen sits along the edges of the room trying not to get hit with sweat or a flowing gown. The home of Alexander Cameron Rutherford, Alberta’s first premiere in 1905, is a perfect setting for the story of Hedda Gabler simply because the time periods match up perfectly. The wardrobes of the actors and the furniture in the house seamlessly blend together, plunging the audience into a realistic scenario that rivals any form of entertainment. One patron mentioned that she thought it was like being in a movie. And I thought to myself, this is only more like a movie in its relation to a traditional theatre performance. This is nothing like a movie, this is nothing like traditional theatre. This is an experience that first heightens your senses then bombards you with sensory input.

I encourage everyone to take one night and enjoy a piece that redefines our ideas about  ‘live theatre.’

Kathleen Weiss masterfully re-crafted this piece.

Thanks for reading.

Paul Lemmerick