The Department of Theatre presents the first production of the NAU theatre season, Hedda Gabler, by the late 19th-century playwright Henrik Ibsen in October. Audiences can see this iconic play at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20-22 or at the 2 p.m. matinee Oct. 22-23 at the Clifford E. White Theatre on NAU’s campus.
The play begins a season inspired by the theme of Precipice and explores the liminal space of the edge. In the physical world, a precipice can be defined as the steep side of a cliff or mountain but also a sense of possible danger, of dread and of choice. The edge also marks the moments before change and causes us to ask provoking questions about ourselves. What courage do we need to transform? What radical direction must we take to find the self? The precipice is also limitless and full of possibility. What future awaits when we gaze over the edge? Hedda Gabler is the first of four stories that explore the journey upwards to the edge of a precipice, the moment of decision, and the potential sacrifice or destruction that lies below.
The iconic play Hedda Gabler grapples with the liminality of a psychological precipice as it examines the forces that cause people to commit radical and inexplicable acts in their journey for identity and freedom. The title character, Hedda Gabler, struggles with finding her freedom and pushes back against the social paradigms of the patriarchal society of the time. Translated by Anne-Charlotte Harvey and adapted by Jon Robin Baitz, Ibsen’s vivid characters reveal the complexity of the human experience in all of his works, and Hedda Gabler in particular reflects his commitment to social change as an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in the issues presented in the play. Audiences may find parallels to the erosion of womens’ rights today with those of the past as they consider Hedda’s journey along the edge of self-destruction to find herself.
Tickets are available through NAU Central Ticketing.