Hedda by Lucy Kirkwood Relocates Ibsen’S Classic Story to London in the 21St Century and the Story Remains Startlingly Vivid

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Bristol Old Vic

HEDDA

by Lucy Kirkwood

Live Streamed

This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Nick Hern Books You’re stuck. Marooned with this person, everlastingly stuck looking at the same face and listening to it talk and chew and snore and breathe. And knowing it’ll never stop. That this is it. Always and eternally.

Hedda feels trapped by the prospect of normality. Having just returned from her honeymoon with George, an academic who she doesn’t love, a future in this utterly boring environment terrifies her.

With George occupied with yet another paper on robotic ants and his dowdy sister Julia fussing over the prospect of aunthood, Hedda naturally tries to make things more interesting. Attempting to gain power over others though leaves her caught between three men.

Ultimately, something has to give.

Lucy Kirkwood’s adaptation of Ibsen’s masterpiece sees Hedda Gabler transplanted to a doer-upper in 21st century Notting Hill. With subtle lines drawn between comedy and drama, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is excited to be streaming this as a fully staged production live from Bristol Old Vic.

Recommended 15+ Contains loud noises and themes of suicide A NOTE FROM BRISTOL OLD VIC THEATRE SCHOOL

The School is delighted to be working in professional theatre venues once again. Current Government guidance is that schools, colleges and universities, including vocational training centres, should remain open with face-to-face teaching taking place where it is safe to do so. The School continues to be in close contact with Bristol’s Public Health team who are satisfied that all relevant procedures are in place to allow theatre productions with a virtual audience to take place.

At the start of the autumn term, the School’s final year Professional Acting students changed their living arrangements in order to form household bubbles aligned with their casting. This allows for physical contact between some of the characters, as you would expect in a regular theatre performance. All rehearsals and off-stage theatre work has been conducted following governmental guidance. The cast, director and key members of the technical team have been rehearsing off-site and those who are not bubbled have been maintaining social distancing throughout this process. The off-stage teams working at the theatre are zoned and the production has a dedicated Covid officer to ensure safe practices are maintained before, during and after each performance.

All at the Theatre School are grateful for the public support we continue to receive and look forward to welcoming you virtually to the livestream of Hedda. DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Hedda by Lucy Kirkwood relocates Ibsen’s classic story to London in the 21st century and the story remains startlingly vivid. After the death of her father, Hedda is caught in a life that she is totally unprepared for. She is adrift, her status in life having always been in relation to her father and after his death she is now struggling to build an identity of her own.

It is a play rich in texture, providing extraordinary depth of character for actors in training to delve into and explore. The detail of each scene, each encounter between character, is brilliantly evoked. The dramatic tension is palpable.

Perhaps the biggest question for us as we went into rehearsals was the play’s relevance today. Hedda Gabler of the 1890s had very obvious limitations on her life, but in the 21st century why not “just get a bloody job, Hedda” (as her friend Toby Brack says). But it’s not that simple. A woman’s identity and social status in the nineteenth century was inextricably bound to a man’s – be it her father’s or her husband’s. Perhaps today we ascribe social status in much the same way (for men as well as women) in linking it pretty inextricably to a person’s job. “What do you do?” is a question at most social gatherings when people first meet. We mean “what’s your job?” We can then place them, have the social context to interact with them. Hedda’s social identity has been ascribed in relation to men, but now she has neither the tools nor desire to carve this out for herself.

As we unpacked the play we found it to be steeped in the notion of identity and in the context of isolation – so very much a play for today.

Jenny Stephens, November 2020 CAST

Issam Al Ghussain Eli

Michael Drake Toby

Emma Hadley-Leonard Hedda

Charlie Hall George

Dumile Sibanda Thea

Tessa Wong Julia / Cleaning Lady Lighting Operator Karris Holm PRODUCTION & CREATIVE TEAM Sound Operator Eleanor Condon Costume Supervisor Charlotte Weiss Director Jenny Stephens Costume Assistants Saskia Bath, Susannah Pearce, Angelica Production Designer Bronia Housman Robinson, Charlotte Rowen Lighting Designer Mike Gunning Construction Manager Andy Scrivens Sound Designer Thomas Codd Carpenter Rhys Gillard Voice Coach Carol Fairlamb Workshop Supervisor Joe Culpin Dialect Coach Kat Hicks Workshop COVID Warden Karris Holm Combat Director Jonathan Howell Construction Assistants Hannah Bracegirdle, Neamh Campbell, Movement Director Michelle Gaskell Eleanor Condon, Frances Pilsworth, Fred MacLeod Producer Ruth Sidery Flys Tabitha Dodds, Phil Harris Production Manager Mark Munday Scenic Artists Debbie Mitchell, Rowan Batoctoy, Leri Tecwyn, Stage Manager Production Supervisor Rosie Giarratana Gina Hammersley Stage Manager Caitlin Ravenscroft COVID Supervisor Hebe Perry Deputy Stage Manager Dominic Parker COVID Officer Chantel Blackwood & Fred MacLeod Assistant Stage Manager/Book Cover Jamie Craker Head of Costume Jill Blundell Assistant Stage Managers Matilda Bradley, Costume Making Tutor Ali Poynter Kirk Martin Bishop, Joe Waddington Head of Scenic Art Cathy Stewart Props Supervisor Frankie Dowers Scenic Crafts Tutor Meriel Pym Props Assistants Laura Davies, Tabitha Dodds Marketing for BOVTS Matt Carmichael, Kathryn Dillon, Assistant Lighting Designer Mary Bennett Rachel Holman, George Spender Production Electrician Alastair Barrows

LIVE STREAM Director Jenny Stephens Camera Director/Vision Mixer Rod Maclachlan Assistant Vision Mixer Lily Barron Head of Cameras Richard Maxwell Camera Operators Maya Barker, Elkie McCrimmon, Neamh Campbell, Frances Pilsworth Sound Mixer Tom Codd Broadcast Engineers Dave Taylor, Simon Barker

BOV FOR HEDDA Artistic Director Tom Morris Production and Ops Director David Harraway Production Manager Jemma Edwards Production Co-ordinator Becky Davies Head of Stage James Molyneux Sound Engineer Duncan Arnold Technicians Imogen Senter, Sam Collier Box Office Rebecca Molloy Marketing Alice Wheeler, Jack Fayter Communications Amanda Adams, Imogen Downes Producer Ben Atterbury

Rehearsal photos © Rachel Holman (Left) Issam Al Ghussain Eli Spotlight: 9816-8945-6783

(Right) Michael Drake Toby Spotlight: 9333-1271-3741 (Left) Emma Hadley-Leonard Hedda Spotlight: 4139-0199-9833

(Right) Charlie Hall George Spotlight: 7892-0167-1695 (Left) Dumile Sibanda Thea Spotlight: 5494-6759-2853

(Right) Tessa Wong Julia / Cleaning Lady Spotlight: 7116-8974-1539 Jenny Stephens is a theatre director, radio producer and writer and has been the Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School since 2012.

She was the Artistic Director of the Worcester Swan Theatre for eight years and has directed for a number of companies including Bolton Octagon, GB Theatre and Great Eastern Stage. As a radio drama producer she has directed numerous new plays for BBC Radio 4 and was a frequent guest director of The Archers.

Credits as writer include Jefferson 37, Project Raphael and Project Archangel (Radio 4), The Speckled Monster and Wounded (Birmingham Rep Theatre).

Productions for BOVTS include: Tartuffe, The Man of Mode, The Country Wife, Les Liaisons dangereuses, Time and The Conways, A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To The Forum, Alice In Wonderland, The Heresy of Love, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Innocent Mistress, Love for Love, Treasure Island, How To Disappear Com- pletely and Never Be Found, Clybourne Park, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Bronia Housman trained in Set and Costume design on the Motley Theatre Design Course after studying theatre at Kent University.

Design includes: The Snow Queen, Mrs Beeton Says & The Railway Chil- dren (Redgrave Theatre, BOVTS), Table & The Kitchen Sink (Stoke New Vic Theatre), The Litte Match Girl & The Bird Show (The Last Baguette), Luna (Roustabout Theatre), Remarkable Invisible (Theatre by the Lake), Ruben- stein Kiss, Amy’s View & After Miss Julie (Nottingham Playhouse), Strange Blooms (Shobana Jeyasingh Dance), Imago (Glyndebourne), The Rodin Project (Sadler’s Wells and touring), A Real Humane Person Who Cares and All That (Arcola Theatre), Sports et Divertessements/ Babar (la Carrière de Normandoux), Precious Bane, Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents, Shoot, Get Treasure, Repeat, Don Juan Comes Back From The War, The Laramie Project & Loveplay (Arts Educational School), The Execution of Damiens & Three Short Plays from Africa (Momentum Festival, Nottingham), The Promise (New Wimbledon Studio), Cosi Fan Tutte (Classical Opera Company), For One Night Only (Pleasance Theatre, London), Henhouse (Arcola Theatre).

Bronia was Es Devlin’s Associate from 2004 to 2017, work includes: Faith Healer (Donmar Warehouse), The Nether (Royal Court & West End), Don Giovanni (ROH) Les Troyens (ROH) The Master and Margarita (Com- plicite) London Olympic Closing Ceremony (London Olympic Stadium) Parsifal (DNO),Take That; Progress (Stadium Tour) Lucrezia Borgia (ENO) Pieces of Vincent (Arcola Theatre) Die Tote Stadt (Finnish National Op- era) Faust (Dresden SemperOper) Blaze (Touring) Knight Crew (Glynde- bourne), Take That; The Circus (UK Stadium Tour), I Puritani (De Neder- landse Opera & Greek National Opera) Pet Shop Boys; Pandemonium (World Tour), Salome (ROH), La Clemenza di Tito (El Liceo Barcelona), Don Giovanni and Flammen (Theater an der Wien). Mike Gunning has worked internationally as a lighting Rod Maclachlan lives and works in Bristol. He holds a designer for 25 years having trained with the RSC as BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Sculpture from Glasgow School tour lighting designer for ten years. of Art (1996) and an MA Fine Art, University College Fal- mouth in (2008). Opera includes: Billy Budd (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, The Pirates of Penzance, Shows include Dissapearance, Enclave, London (2014) St John’s Passion, Ernani, Il trovatore (ENO), Il trovatore (ROH), Life’s An Illusion Love Is A Dream, Liverpool Royal Stand- Macbeth, Albert Herring, Lucio Silla (Buxton Festival); La travi- ard (2013), Passing The Time, Motorcade/Flashparade, ata (Wiener Festwochen) Dido and Aeneas (’Opéra-Comique) Bristol (2013). His installation works have been experi- Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni (British Youth Opera), Manon enced at One-on-One Festival, Battersea Arts Centre, In Lescaut, Fedora (Holland Park Opera). Between Time, Arnolfini, and Small World Fair at Metal Theatre includes: Kneehigh’s Ubu! (Kneehigh), 10 Soldiers in Southend-on-Sea. Collaborations include working (Rosie Kay Dance Company), The Brothers Size (Young Vic/ with artist Harminder Judge on Do What Thou Wilt, Spill UK tour), The Emperor, Kafka’s Monkey (HOME Manches- Festival, The Barbican (2011) and with composer Roly ter/Young Vic), Measure for Measure (RSC), Uncle Vanya, Porter on Fall Back at Faster than Sound, Snape, Suffolk Inkheart, The Fun Fair, Romeo and Juliet (HOME Manches- (2011). Maclachlan is the associate artist for the Bristol ter), I Capture the Castle (Watford Palace Theatre), Crime Proms, Bristol Old Vic. and Punishment (Moscow Musical Theatre), Rime of the Ancient Mariner (BAM), The Drowned Man (Punchdrunk/ National Theatre), Alice Underground (EBP, London/ Shanghai), The Snow Queen (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Liverpool Everyman). Dance includes: Caracala Dance Company (Baalbeck), Boy Blue (5 productions), Rosie Kay (6 productions). Music: Grace Jones (Shows from 2015 and film) Razorlight. AN INTERVIEW WITH DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER DOMINIC PARKER

What is your role in the show and what does this entail?

I am the Deputy Stage Manager for Hedda. During the rehearsal process, I sit in the rehearsal room and note the blocking, staging. Additionally I distribute the notes that have arisen from rehearsal and the call for rehearsals. In the theatre I sit with my book and call the cues of the show ensuring all the lighting, sound etc. happen when they are planned to go.

Why did you choose to study your course? Do you have any advice for future applicants?

I chose this course as it gives a broad understanding of all technical departments and Film. I think it gives a unique understanding of what every department does and the requirements they have, this helps me do my job as I understand their work and how to work around and schedule it.

Who should come to see/watch Hedda?

I think everyone should see Hedda. This is a brilliant adaptation that has great depth, acting, and tech- nical elements that will captivate the audience. Furthermore this is one of the first shows that is being produced since March and is merging Live Theatre and Live Steaming – making theatre much more ac- cessible and enjoyable to those who want to be back in a theatre or those who want to enjoy theatre in their own home.

What have you enjoyed the most about working on Hedda?

I have enjoyed the process from seeing the model box at the design presentation and the process throughout rehearsals and going into the venue. Watching and being involved in bringing all these thoughts and ideas to life.

Without giving too much away(!) what does the technical/creative team have in store for the audience?

We have some really interesting, creative elements to captivate the drama, the humour and the trage- dy that Lucy Kirkwood has written. The set design cleverly draws you in and the lighting and sound will bring together seamlessly the conventions of theatre and film.

What does this show mean to you in light of all that’s happening?

This show means a lot to me. This is one of the first shows that is being produced since March and has a huge team of professionals in training that will be the next generation of Actors, Stage Managers, Tech- nicians that will be working in the post-COVID industry. Furthermore, being a part in getting theatres reopened nationally is a huge pressure but also highly thrilling! Who should come to see/watch Hedda? AN INTERVIEW WITH ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER This show is definitely for an adult audience, I’d say about 18+. Definitely suitable for MARY BENNETT anyone looking to watch a gripping drama!

What is your role in the show and what does this entail? What have you enjoyed the most about working on Hedda?

I am the Assistant Lighting Designer for Hedda! I am here to support Mike Gunning I’ve enjoyed the freedom of being able to create my own lighting design to help our (our Lighting Designer) for whatever he needs and aid him with creating a LX plan and lighting designer! I’m looking forward to tech week so that I can see what I can learn Cue list for the show. As well as this I have been standing in meetings for him when he from Mike and how he designs the show and what he has in store for everyone! I have isn’t available and suggesting ideas about the lighting design itself. In my time since also enjoyed working alongside our Prod LX Ali, to help get prepared for when we get joining the drama school I have been lucky enough to work with four Lighting Design- into the venue! ers including our Head of Course – Joe Stathers. Each Lighting Designer has their own way of programming and their own tips and tricks for designing a show and I have Without giving too much away(!) what does the technical/creative team have in learnt so much in the past three years that I can adapt for my own lighting designs and store for the audience? use in the future. It’s still a surprise to us! We have only just been assigned a lighting designer so we Why did you choose to study your course? Do you have any advice for future ap- have a lot in store over the next few weeks to make the show come alive! plicants? What does this show mean to you in light of all that’s happening? I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to work in theatre. There was a moment where I was acting with a Youth Theatre Group, but I longed to be one of the people with a set After being made redundant from my job back home and not being able to work in of cans and a clipboard behind the scenes instead of actually being in the spotlight. Bristol either as next to no shows are on right now, it means so much to be back work- I came to BOVTS thinking I wanted to be a Stage Manager with knowledge of all the ing on stage. Whenever it’s holiday and I am not working at the drama school I’m usu- other technical roles backstage, now I long to be the one making the stage look beau- ally taking shifts back at my home theatre so it’s going to be a sad Christmas without tiful through lighting as well as creating the designers and director’s vision. My advice theatre. Last year’s graduates have been in the industry for less than a year and are would be to always keep an open mind, try new things and never say no! You never not getting any support because of that, this year’s graduates have had little prepara- know what career path you might be drawn into throughout the course. tion to go out into a non-existent industry because of COVID and our year are having to prepare for this too. Being away from the theatre during lockdown has made me What has been your favourite experience at the School so far? appreciate this experience so much more. It is a gift to be able to put on a show right now and fingers crossed nothing will stop it going ahead! My favourite experience was definitelyNicholas Nickleby on the BOV main stage, it was my first lighting op role with the school, and I got so much more confident program- ming all the lighting. It was amazing to look at the show and think ‘I actually did that. I Students from the Hedda company have recorded a podcast made the lighting look like that with my own programming skills.’ It was the first mo- ment I felt proud of myself at the Theatre School. detailing the road to production in the time of a pandemic. To listen go to https://soundcloud.com/user-50097802/hedda-podcast

Production and Technical Rehearsal photos © Craig Fuller THANKS TO

Stage Style Costumes Jenni Everett Lydia Morgan Tom Gould Charlie Hemmings Frances Ashton Rosie Maynard The Magic Lantern Cinema Tywyn Tommy Bell Enlightened Sophia Khan