Sep 12, 2020
Hedda Gabler (Yorkshire Television, 1981)
"Hedda... Aunty Rina's dying. She says if I want to see her again I'll have to really hurry. Yes, yes I will, I'll - I'll run over there right away."
"Will you run, George?"
"Hedda, you couldn't bring yourself to come with me, could you?"
"No Tesman, please don't ask me to do that. I don't want to be watching illness and death. I can't bear things that are ugly."
#hedda gabler#henrik ibsen#diana rigg#modern drama#Play adaptation#Yorkshire Television#1981#john osborne#David Cunliffe#denis lill#philip bond#Alan Dobie#kathleen byron#Elizabeth Bell#Rosalie Williams#I'm sorry that it took Diana's passing for me to finally get around to watching this#Taken on its own merits as an ITV adaptation of a classic play‚ this displays pretty much all the limitations of its contemporaries#It's stagey‚ unnecessarily so‚ and perhaps overly faithful to its theatrical origins; its shot on video on a few cheap sets and with no#Musical score. But where it succeeds enormously is in its superb cast of acting greats at the top of their powers#Dobie is brilliant‚ Bond moving‚ Byron superb in a supporting role. But this is Diana's show through and through‚ there can be no mistaking#That. She's incredible. There are so many different ways to play Hedda‚ hundreds of different interpretations. Hers is easily one of the#Coldest and most openly waspish I've seen and yet she keeps Hedda from ever being quite the villain. She wraps herself in this veneer of#Assumed aristocracy that insists she be forgiven even the most outrageous unkindness. Her body language is fascinating: while her mind is#Clearly razor taut and her words stab out like prickles on a porcupine‚ she lounges across a sofa‚ utterly relaxed‚ completely without#Tension. There are some brilliant‚ brave choices too: at the end of act 2 Hedda allows just a flash of her real self to show to Thea and in#That moment Diana throws her arm around Bell's neck‚ draws her in and it really seems like she is about to kiss her; instead she tells her#That she is thinking of burning her hair off. At the end‚ just before her finale‚ Hedda retreats behind a curtain and Diana thunders out a#Few moments of Danse Macabre on piano. The original play doesn't specify music besides a dance number but the choice here is just perfect#A powerful‚ affecting performance by an actor who really was one of our very finest and a true icon.#Rip Diana
