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Play Review: 'Hedda Gabler' By Roberta Kent Special to the Tidings Let me indulge in a bit of hyperbole. OSF's production of Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" is simply spectacular. The production in the Bowmer Theatre is based on a new translation of the Ibsen classic by OSF Artistic Director Emeritus Jerry Turner. Turner, whose tenure at the Festival extended from 1971, when he succeeded founder Angus Bowmer, to 1991, is a noted Ibsen translator. His translations done by the festival have included "Rosmersholm," "Peer Gynt," "Ghosts," "An Enemy of the People" and "The Wild Duck." And, in case you think this is the Festival promoting its own, it should be pointed out that Turner received the St. Olav's Medal from King Harald of Norway in 1996 for those translations. Hedda Gabler has been variously portrayed as wildly romantic or willfully destructive. Here, translator Turner and director Bill Rauch have chosen to portray her as an intelligent, capricious, indulged woman who, given her love of luxury and horror of scandal, has made choices that have steadily painted her into a corner. Throughout the course of the play, she continuously narrows her options until the only way out for her is one last dramatic act. Hedda Gabler (Robin Goodrin Nordli) is the beautiful and imperious daughter of the deceased General Gabler. But we quickly learn that the General did not leave his daughter financially well off. Ibsen's opening scene establishes that Hedda's new husband has paid for the lease on their new villa by borrowing against his future income and the furniture has been paid for by a mortgage on his maiden aunts' annuity. As Hedda reveals to family friend Judge Brack (Richard Farrell), her beauty may have charmed other suitors but her arrogance and sarcasm kept them at a distance. And, with her social standing and no money, Hedda had to marry. George Tesman was the only one to propose. At least Tesman had possibilities. He was almost a sure bet for a professorship and he was certainly devoted to her and willing to indulge her taste for luxury. It is Turner and Rauch's crowning touch to have Tesman (Jeffrey King) played as a big, floppy puppy dog, full of enthusiasm but lacking any wit, subtlety or, worse, a sense of irony. A five-month honeymoon traveling around Europe while Tesman researched a scholarly narrow book has left Hedda depressed, pregnant and trapped. Her only solace lies in flirting with Judge Brack, who makes it clear that now that Hedda is safely married and visibly bored, she is perfect mistress-material. Into this potential triangle, Ibsen introduces Eilert Lovborg. At one time, Hedda had been courted by Lovborg. In Turner's translation and Rauch's staging, Lovborg (Jonathan Haugen) is a wild, Byronesque intellectual. Lovborg is dangerous, exciting, forbidden. It is clear that Hedda is in love with him. But he was never going to be wealthy or socially acceptable. Hedda ended the relationship in a self-indulgent dramatic gesture. That's why she's so bitter when she learns of the success of his book and so jealous that it was her mousy little ex-schoolmate Thea Elvstead (Terri McMahon) who reformed him and inspired him. When she learns that he has now become her husband's rival for the professorship, she concocts a malevolent plot as much for adventure as for revenge. Bill Rauch, who directed last season's "Handler" for the Festival, has made Robin Goodrin Nordli's Hedda softer, more wistful and funnier than the character is usually portrayed. We understand her pain, her panic at this stultifying marriage and Judge Brack's creepily attractive proposition. Goodrin Nordli's Hedda is a woman who longs for freedom but lacks the courage to grab it. Rauch has balanced her with performances from King, Farrell and McMahon as well as tight, plot-illuminating turns by Eileen DeSandre as Tesman's doting Auntie Julie and Margaret Schenck as Berte, the devoted family retainer. Rauch also has James Edmondson wander periodically through the action as a ghostly General Gabler, continually reminding his daughter of his expectations for her. Scenic Designer Rachel Hauck's set echoes the distance and disjoined action between the characters. It is large and sharply angled with sparse and uncomfortable furniture. The lush gold of the trees outside mock the house's sterility. Shigeru Yaji's costumes and, commendably, Geoff Korf's lighting and Todd Barton's original music, also carry through Rauch and Turner's themes. Turner has said that he felt that none of the previous translations of "Hedda Gabler" "were quite in the spirit of the Nor-wegian." He wanted to give the play a clarity, to make the dialogue sound like it was spoken by "modern American actors," just as Ibsen's dialogue was written for the way people spoke in his time. Turner's achievement, aided and abetted by Bill Rauch's inspired direction, takes "Hedda Gabler" out of the category of a "classic" and into mainstream modern theater. See it. You'll never again feel the same about Ibsen. LINKS: REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. DAILY TIDINGS: Main | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -