The Lenfest Center's Production Of 'Hedda Gabler' Is A Haunting But Dreamlike Rendition Of A Century-Old Play

Upper West Side NY

28 October, 2021

12:41 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY CLARE DONALDSON OCTOBER 26, 2021 As the house and stage lights begin to dim, the entire theater becomes pitch black and eerie. The audience has hushed, awaiting the beginning of the show, but for a couple of seconds, there is only silence. Then, the melodic sound of a piano cuts through the lingering silence of the theater, echoing against the hollow set before once again returning the theater to its quiet state. For a few moments, it is silent again, but then the voice of a young woman rings out in the darkness. "My name is Hedda Gabler," she says. "This is my piano, and these are my guns. This is my life. I am 130 years old, and in less than 90 minutes, I will be dead. Again. In a way, I'm dead already. I've lost something." This new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's iconic play "Hedda Gabler," created by Diana Fathi, SoA '21, and Rakesh Palisetty, SoA '22, and directed by Palisetty, premiered at the Lenfest Center for the Arts on Oct. 21 in collaboration with the Columbia School of the Arts MFA directing program. For his senior thesis, Palisetty explores the psychological workings of the play's titular character, whose mental state deteriorates after she finds herself stuck in an unhappy marriage and living in a house she never asked for. With artful staging and a vivid soundscape, Palisetty manages to craft a memorable play that haunts the audience after they leave the theater. From the moment "Hedda Gabler" begins, the play feels almost dreamlike. Dim beams of light float around the shadowed space, painting the stage with hues of soft whites and melancholic grays. It looks calm and beautiful, but somewhere in the background, the haunting sound of a drone rings out ominously, hinting that the dream is coming to an end and the nightmare has just begun. At the very center of the stage, a small platform with two sets of descending stairs becomes the central set piece for the show. Characters use it as a chair, a coat rack, and even a bed, but as the play goes on, the platform quickly comes to symbolize something much more sinister to Hedda Gabler and the audience. It transforms into a sort of precipice, a place which Hedda returns to when she teeters on the edge of a complete breakdown. It is a place she returns to when she wishes to escape—from her life, from her marriage, from everything. In collaboration with Palisetty, scenic designer Michael Lewis, a graduate of New York University's MFA Stage Design Program, constructed a purposefully hollow set. Aside from the pivotal staircase at the center of the stage and the floor-to-ceiling video projection screen that sits behind it, the stage feels sparse. A dark piano and a vanity table with mirrors become the only set pieces to frame the stage, except the central staircase. Throughout the show, the space between the three set pieces acts as a playing ground for the actors, who make sure to never wander past the borders of the set. It is as if they, like Hedda, are trapped in this lonely and hollow space, confined by the limits enforced upon them. Although the pacing of the first half of the show drags compared to the second half, composers and sound designers Jefferson McCarthy, Calvin Lu, and Diana Fathi anchor the play with a soundtrack and live accompaniment that electrify the scenes with intrigue and suspense. The music transforms into a conductor-like character, directing and heightening the audience's unease until we, like Hedda, teeter on a precipice, wishing for an escape from the tension that accumulates as the play progresses. All of the actors play their parts well, infusing their performances with a delicate balance between realism and a hint of melodrama. In particular, Kristina Szilagyi, who portrays Hedda throughout the show, and Isaiah Dodo-Williams, SoA '22, who portrays Hedda's husband George Tesman, bring a daring boldness to their performances without straying too far into the territory of melodramatic acting. Chris Martel and Riley Austin Scott, who both portray multiple roles throughout the show, carry a nice subtlety to their performances that offsets the boldness of Szilagyi and Dodo-Williams. "Hedda Gabler" ends just like it begins: like a dream. But this time, the dream no longer feels serene. Instead, the dark hints from the beginning of the play have transformed into the real-life nightmarish figures that imprison Hedda on the small platform at the center of the stage. Hedda tries to escape from the figures and the platform, but the masked figures block every possible route of escape. She's trapped, and the only way out is down. Hedda inches even closer to the edge of her precipice, looks down for a long moment, then addresses the audience one last time. "My name is Hedda Gabler. This is my life." The stage lights go out, leaving the theater in complete darkness. Somehow, the ghoulish white faces of the masked figures can still be seen in the dark, but this time, they gaze directly at the audience. The dream has ended, but the nightmare has just begun. Staff writer Clare Donaldson can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. 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