Birmingham REP will this week stage the world première of Heather Gardner, a new version of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler by Birmingham writer Robin French, at the city’s Old Rep Theatre.
French re-imagines one of Ibsen’s most irresistible heroines as Heather Gardner, a glamorous young woman who’s thrilling, enigmatic and seductive.
The production, part of the REP’s 100th birthday season, is set in the 1960s in Birmingham’s affluent Edgbaston in the home of former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
It’s September 1962. Beautiful socialite Heather returns from her honeymoon to her dream home in upmarket Edgbaston, but nothing is turning out as planned. Heather soon finds herself in a spiral of self-destruction, caught between her old flame, Alec Lambart and the clutches of predatory solicitor Peregrine Brand. There can be only one outcome.
French said, “I'm head over heels in love with the play Hedda Gabler. It's mysterious, dangerous and darkly funny.
“The original is set in the house of the widow of a former cabinet minister, and I started to think about the house that Neville and Anne Chamberlain spent over 40 years in—only two minutes’ walk from the house where I grew up.
“I started to conceive a version of the play set in Edgbaston in September 1962. I was surprised by how many elements of the original seemed to fit this transition, and writing Heather Gardner was an immense pleasure from start to finish.
“I hope, like a cover version of a great song, that Heather Gardner offers the audience an enjoyable new perspective on Ibsen's genius.”
Elisabeth Hopper plays Heather Gardner; Christopher Ettridge is Peregrine Brand; James Bradshaw plays George; Maisie Turpie is Dorothy Edwards; Bert Woodhead plays Roderick Smith; Sean Hart is Alec Lambert; and Rosalind March plays Aunt June.
Former artistic director of The Bush and founder of Hull Truck Theatre Company Mike Bradwell directs Heather Gardner in his first production for the REP.
Design is by Jamie Vartan, with lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by Dan Hoole.
Heather Gardner runs at the Old Rep from Thursday (14 March) until Thursday, 28 March.