Just married. Bored already. Hedda longs to be free..

“I’ve no talent for life.”

Just married. Buried alive. Hedda longs to be free…

Hedda and Tesman have just returned from their honeymoon and the relationship is already in trouble. Trapped but determined, Hedda tries to control those around her, only to see her own world unravel.

★★★★★

‘Ruth Wilson has brought a new dimension to Hedda Gabler. I have seen compelling Heddas before, but I have never seen an actor make so convincing the character’s toxic aestheticism: she demands that suicide be committed “beautifully”. From the opening moments, when she appears with her back to the audience, splayed out over a piano, Wilson’s Hedda has recoiled from everything around her. Her contempt is beyond rational explanation. Despair has bleached her. She is an addict, hooked on disgust’. GuardianIvo van Hove (A View from the Bridge) – one of the world’s most exciting directors – makes his National Theatre debut with a modern production of Henrick Ibsen’s masterpiece.

This vital new version by Patrick Marber (Closer, Three Days in the Country) features Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair) in the title role and Rafe Spall (Black Mirror, The Big Short) as Brack.