Hedda Gabler Reviews

The Boston Globe - Highly Recommended

"...Apollinaire's performance space at Chelsea Theatre Works is a very small one. For performers and audience alike, there's no place to hide. (When they're not in a scene, cast members sit on chairs on either side of the stage.) That intimacy lends a visceral force to the proceedings in "Hedda Gabler," including one of the most famous gunshots in theater history."

Joyce's Choices - Not Recommended

"...HEDDA GABLER mounted by Apollinaire Theatre Company ends with a bang, but misfires from the start. I love this play, but was disappointed by this rendition. Overacted and ill-conceived, this production of Henrik Ibsen's landmark turn of the century psychosocial drama finds its actors wearing the subtext on their sleeves- as if they all know what's bugging them. They don't."

Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended

"...For a taut psychological drama fraught with sexual tension, Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler remains unrivaled, and Parker Jennings delivers a mesmerizing performance as the title character—a woman simmering with rage beneath a veneer of poise, trapped in a world that offers her no escape. With astute director Danielle Fauteux Jacques wisely choosing a public domain translation of the original Norwegian, Apollinaire Theatre’s production strips the play of excess, using a streamlined, intermission-free 105-minute run to ratchet up the suspense with unrelenting intensity."

The Arts Fuse - Not Recommended

"...Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler famously confesses that she only has one major talent: for boring herself to death. But she has proved to be anything but boring to generations of theatergoers and actresses since the play's scandalous premiere in 1891, and the antiheroine's furious rejection (yet docile acceptance) of society remains a compelling mystery. Why does Hedda take one of her father's pistols and commit suicide at play's end - is she a nihilist? a coward? a mental case? a martyr for female liberation? an aristocrat unable to live in a bourgeois society?"

New England Theater Mirror - Highly Recommended

"...The entire cast is well-rounded, able to meld with and sometimes play against the moody atmosphere. Other notable standouts include Cristhian Mancinas-García as the suave yet power-hungry Judge Brack and Joshua Lee Robinson as the erratic and muse-seized Lovborg, both of whom bring a rich understanding and personalization to their roles – along with a lot of impassioned moments with Jennings. "

The New England Theatre Geek - Recommended

"...Director Danielle Fauteux Jacques creates contrast between the play’s corrupt characters, Hedda & Brack, its oblivious characters, George, Julianna & Berta, and its troubled but otherwise good characters, Thea & Lövborg. The actors play up their characters’ differences on stage so the audience must see the wrongness of Hedda and Brack’s corrupt behavior. Jacques has her cast sit around the perimeter of the stage when they are not on stage. The actors are forced to witness Hedda’s despicable actions even as their characters turn away, and we watch them watching. "