New Yorkers will have their choice of two productions of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler this month. One is the splashy Broadway mounting, starring Kate Burton and directed by Nicholas Martin, which opened to rosy review on Oct. 4 at the Ambassador Theatre. The second is much humbler, beginning preview Oct. 9 at the tiny upstairs space at the Center for the Performing Arts under the auspices of the popular and respected Ibsen Series, which has been quietly making its way through all 12 of the Norwegian master's major plays.
Hedda will be the eighth installment in the Ibsen Series' journey. So far, the program has produced Pillars of Society, A Doll House, Enemy of the People, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, The Lady from the Sea and Rosmersholm.
Alex Lippard will direct Hedda Gabler. The cast features Blake Lindsley, Max Vogler, Barbara Haas, Nick Stannard, Maxine Prescott, Jessica Damrow and Christopher Mullen. The translation is by Rolf Fjelde, considered the English language's preeminent translator of Ibsen. The Broadway translation is by Jon Robin Baitz.
The second attraction in the Ibsen Series' 2001-02 season will be The Master Builder, directed by J.C. Compton, who began the series. It will run Nov. 7-Dec. 9.
The final three of the Ibsen dozen—Little Eyolf, John Gabriel Borkman and When We Dead Awaken—will be presented during the spring and summer of 2002. Tickets are $25. For more information, call (212) 279-4200.
