Los Angeles Times - Recommended
"...The Antaeus company's "Hedda Gabler" is just what you want from a production of a classic play: It cracks open the text to reveal details that you hadn't fully noticed before."
LA Weekly - Highly Recommended
"...If you're someone who usually dismisses 19th-century theater classics as stuffy and stiff, you might want to reconsider and go see Hedda Gabler at Antaeus Theatre Company, where Jaimi Paige delivers a mesmerizing performance as the beautiful and manipulative title character."
Broadway World - Recommended
"...Steven Robman's strong hand at briskly directing his very talented ensemble at a snappy pace makes this updated 19th century classic whizz by in its two-hour-and-twenty-minute length. Victorian values seem right at home in the modernization/adaptation of Antaeus' production of HEDDA GABLER, a drawing room concoction of misdirected/misguided affections/attractions/lusts. The only 'value' outdated (and not updated) would be the comment of showing of too much ankle from the women. (Hedda shows off her legs and bare shoulders.)"
Edge - Somewhat Recommended
"...As usual, however, Antaeus' terrific company is able to mostly pull off Ibsen's anguish over his society's shortcomings when it came to female/male combinations. With the unfortunate exception of Paige's bland Hedda, Noble, LaTourelle, Amendola and Blinkoff fed us intricate characterizations that allowed for a fuller audience understanding."
Stage Scene LA - Recommended
"...Some of L.A.'s finest stage stars take center stage in Andrew Upton's 2002 version of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, and while the age-blind casting of most of the play's lead roles proves problematic, the Antaeus Company's latest partner-cast revival nonetheless offers Los Angeles theatergoers some of the finest acting in town."
ArtsBeatLA - Recommended
"...The production is well cast and directed by Steven Robman, using a new version by Andrew Upton of the Sydney Theatre Company. The language feels highly modern and Robman has brought the setting forward by thirty years to the permissive 1920s."
ArtsInLA - Highly Recommended
"..."Hedda Gabler" is in production by Antaeus Theatre Co. through mid-July. The company, which boasts a deep bench of the city's best actors, double-casts its shows, so each role is shared by two actors in mix-and-match performances."
On Stage Los Angeles - Recommended
"...Fine performances with crisp stage pictures engineered by Robman pick up the pace in the second act as Hedda manipulates Ejlert into a revival of his old feelings of inadequacy and yearning for the rekindling of his love for her. Exposition via the excellent Lynn Milgrim as Aunt Julle and Kwana Martinez's Thea Elvstead knit the fascinating tale of survival in the face of rejection and anticipated Scandinavian angst is nicely wrapped up with an equally touching turn by Karianne Flaathen as Berte, the household retainer. Subtle lighting by Leigh Allen and excellent costumes by Leah Piehl are thoroughly professional from head to toe."
NoHoArtsDistrict - Highly Recommended
"...Ibsen's brilliant writing and Upton's unique take make for a "Hedda" unlike any in recent memory."
Culture Spot LA - Highly Recommended
"...Director Steven Robman is using an adaptation by Australian Andrew Upton and has set the play in the early 1920s, a time still distant, yet one where women were freer to enjoy themselves. The set and costumes are splendid, and it all seems a bit Gatsby-esque. We do not get any sense that these are Norwegians or any other kind of European, but rather it seems a properly American tragedy. And that is a tribute to the universality of Ibsen's vision."
Gia on the Move - Recommended
"...This Hedda Gabler is not without its kinks. Although the language has been updated there are occasional words and phrases that don't seem to fit in the mostly naturalistic delivery. But the cast marvelously overcomes any dialog imperfections while also subtly apportioning out a highly nuanced piece."
Stage Raw - Recommended
"...Heinrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler remains a titanic creation that still demarcates the theater's passage into modernity. Its protagonist is the embodiment of contradiction, from the diamond-like clarity of her individuality to her ultimately inscrutable motives. Does she represent the rudiments of an emerging feminist consciousness? (She's blazingly complex and refuses to conform to prescribed gender roles.) Or does she represent a twisted male perception of the confounding power of female assertion? All and none of the above, and everything in between. Hedda is dangerous not so much for what she represents, but for how amenable her character is to our own projections of her, projections consisting of our apprehensions of her. Hedda may reveal more of each audience member's unacknowledged fears and anxieties than perhaps her own quite furious frustration and cruelty."
Theatre Notes - Recommended
"...Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, bold and controversial when it premiered in 1890, retains its power in the Twenty-First Century. Australian playwright Andrew Upton blows the cobwebs off old translations and jumps the action from the 1890s into the early 1920s. While faithful to Ibsen's text, the playwright underscores the shifted time frame with such verbal ejaculations as "Golly!" "Wow!" and phrases like "oodles of fun." The intense human drama of a much more buttoned up era than our own retains its gripping power to move an audience.:
Haines His Way - Highly Recommended
"...Cuillum gives a nuanced performance, shy about his luck in winning Hedda's hand, jealous of Lovborg's best seller intellectual acumen, loving in his deep respect and affection for his Aunt. Great support is given by Sutorius, casually slimy and charming, and Milgrim, ditheringly delightful. But the play belongs to Doukas. She rules the stage every moment she is on it and she is seldom absent from it. Her malicious glee in controlling the lives of all about her because of her innate boredom is artfully conveyed. She is like a Black Widow Spider, playfully toying with the flies caught in her sticky web of lies and deceit. (As with all Antaeus's productions, the roles are double cast. The actors mentioned in the review and shown in the photos are the ones that were on stage at the performance I reviewed.)"
Colorado Boulevard - Highly Recommended
"...Conniving, lying, lost manuscripts, misinterpretations, gunshots, manipulation, evil plans, illicit flirtations - I won't add any spoilers about who does what to whom, but there are surprises and shocks. I will just say treat yourself - this is unmissable! And a wonderful opportunity to get to know the Antaeus company, as I'm hoping my Pasadena neighbors will be as excited as I am about getting another close-by small theater and will be seeing more productions when they move to Glendale."
On Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Having previously seen the 2009 Broadway revival, starring Mary-Louise Parker and Michael Cerveris, I found this more modern version significantly more palatable, enjoyable, and easy to follow. The scenes moved along at an engaging pace, with the tension ratcheting up appropriately as it built towards the inevitable and heavily foreshadowed conclusion."
