BACK in 1891, when Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler had its first performance, the central role was hailed as a tragic heroine, imprisoned in a loveless marriage, at the beck and call of ruthless men, and with no agency over her life. Her only recourse was suicide.

The play’s scandalous denouement horrified critics and audiences. The powerful female role quickly became a classic ambition for 20th century actresses. Many attempts have been made to update the play.

Now writer and director Matthew Dunster has cleaned the lens and reinterpreted Ibsen for a 21st century, post-truth era audience. The play, running at Bath Theatre Royal’s intimate Ustinov Studio, distils the original,
heightening the intensity and bringing the language up to date without the jarring that often follows such endeavours.

Singer, broadcaster and actor Lily Allen inhabits this Hedda, the daughter of a millionaire record company owner whose business collapsed with the advent of music streaming services. Hedda’s young life was one of privileged hedonism, travelling the world in private planes from glamorous hotels to star-studded resorts, wanting for nothing.

Careless cruelty at her exclusive private school was followed by alcohol and drug-fuelled teenage parties and selfishly promiscuous liaisons. She was the fashionable star that everyone remembered. Her father’s financial ruin and death left her penniless and rootless, and so she has married the dependable and boringly academic George, loveably played by Ciaran Owens.

We meet her as the couple returns from a five-month honeymoon, that has bankrupted the eager new husband, to a flashily modern flat by the park. George’s devoted aunt Julia (Imogen Stubbs) has released all her money so the flat could be purchased, but Hedda can’t be bothered with someone she regards as a social and intellectual inferior. The maid Danni (Najla Andrade) gets even shorter shrift.

Then the hysterically convincing Taya (Julia Chan) arrives with news of one of Hedda’s past conquests, the brilliant but unhinged Jasper (the charismatic Tom Austen), who turns up with a book that could derail George’s hopes of academic stardom.

At the back of all this is the Svengali-like MP, property developer and Hedda’s former lover Brack, given a multi-faceted interpretation by Brendan Coyle). He holds all the keys and all the strings … what’s to do?

Matthew Dunster and his brilliant cast pose the question: is Hedda a tragic dramatic heroine or is she a spoilt, scheming, narcissistic brat who richly deserves her comeuppance. She is certainly committed to Hedda’s Truth, and, in these days of “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but my truth” she might still edge in as a tragic figure.

This Hedda is a psychologically enthralling and richly challenging version of the original play, performed by an exceptional company of actors, all intensely invested in the narrative.

The run at Bath, until 23rd August, is sold out – you could add your name to the returns list and keep your fingers crossed. The production, perfect proof that modernising Ibsen can be shatteringly successful, will surely make its way to the West End.

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Photographs by Manuel Harlan