It’s becoming quite a day and Hedda Gabler has just about had enough.

Intolerant, impatient, and excruciatingly bored, Parker Jennings brings spark to Hedda Gabler, an entitled general’s daughter who settled for her husband because she felt like she was running out of options.  Some of Parker’s best moments depict the phony and tight smile forcing its way across her lips in public before glowering when no one is looking.

Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques, Apollinaire Theatre Company continues Hedda Gabler live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 16.   Henrik Ibsen’s classic psychological thriller runs approximately one hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

Gazing out into Hedda’s world from one solitary angle, it becomes clear that the audience is limited exclusively to Hedda’s single-minded perspective in this dark tale.  Set in the 1890s, Hedda Gabler focuses a full day inside the drawing room of the Tesman villa in Kristiania, Norway.  Joseph Lark-Riley’s tense and chilling sound design infused with a mix of ominous and soft flickering lights by Danielle Fauteaux Jacques enlivens some of the idle chatter and gossip exchanged during the production.  Lark-Riley also delivers a sophisticated set full of dainty flowers, bookcases, and a vintage piano sitting center stage as cast members alter the set from scene to scene.  Elizabeth Rocha’s delicate and finely detailed costumes reflect the Victorian era in distinguished three piece suits, florals, silks, and extravagant lace.

Each character is either onstage or sitting on the sidelines, but the most significant impact is Parker as Hedda’s constant presence even prior to making her first appearance.  She is always looming in the background within the audience’s vantage point needing our constant attention.

After just returning from a six month honeymoon, newlyweds Conall Sahler as sweet and well meaning yet tedious academic Tesman and Parker Jennings as Hedda are hosting a visit with Paola Ferrer as kindly and uncomfortably intrusive, but perhaps not by societal standards, Julianna.  Earnest, kindhearted and generous, Julianna has a strong bond with her nephew Tesman and strives to make him happy. 

Having never read or seen this Ibsen classic before, Hedda Gabler takes a bit to get going, but nothing quite prepares you for Parker’s instantly unsettling entrance.  In a white ruffled sundress, Parker is certainly a vision as Hedda and can barely muster a smile for Ferrer’s Julianna even in the face of Julianna’s warm generosity. 

Hedda Gabler is a psychological thriller from the perspective of Hedda Gabler who sees her world as monotonous and it seems the most scandalous parts of the production take place outside this villa and merely discussed by members of the cast.  Ibsen’s classic is a brilliant portrait of a selfish and shrewd narcissist and the show has suspense, but if the audience is witnessing Hedda’s world from her perspective, the production’s more stagnant scenes seem meant to appear that way.  Even with Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia as cunning Brack and Joshua Lee Robinson as impressionable Lovborg, the stakes do not seem as convincingly high as they should be. 

A juggernaut of outbursts and fury, Parker’s Hedda is pivotal to this role because she carries the brunt of the tension and Parker has quite a challenge to keep this tension teetering and unstable.  Disappointed in Tesman and their life together, Hedda longs for an act of spontaneous beauty and will stop at nothing to stir up thrills in her life, whatever the cost.

This period piece squarely delves into the limitations of a Victorian woman.  Expected to get married, have babies, and settle down into a subservient existence, Hedda wishes for something more and sets her own path way ahead of her time.  

Apollinaire Theatre Company continues Hedda Gabler live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 16.   Henrik Ibsen’s classic psychological thriller runs approximately one hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.  Click here for more information and for tickets.