Leafy Kingston isn’t where I expected to find a stylish, provocatively intelligent update of Henrik Ibsen’s study of thwarted womanhood. But that’s what writer Nina Segal and director Jeff James serve up here, along with an analysis of celebrity culture, power dynamics and even the nature of reality. It’s beautifully acted by a tight, six-strong cast led by Antonia Thomas, star of Misfits and The Good Doctor. Unfortunately, it all goes way over the top at the end but until then it’s absolutely gripping.
In Ibsen’s 1890 original, Hedda Gabler is trapped by society, patriarchy and her own notions of grandeur and romance. Here Thomas plays a former Hollywood child star whose chaotic life has become tabloid fodder. Having “lightly maimed” a paparazzo in her self-driving Tesla, she’s seeking absolution and credibility in an improvised film of Ibsen’s play for autocratic arthouse Svengali Henrik (Christian Rubeck, who is pitch perfect). Apart from Henrik and his long-suffering assistant Berta (Anna Andresen) everyone is referred to solely by the name of the Ibsen character they are playing.
