Latest news with #Ibsen
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Lily Allen proves any naysayers wrong with her biggest stage triumph yet
The irreverent pop star who has valiantly ventured into acting, to praise – but also sniffs of disapproval – Lily Allen's third project with director Matthew Dunster is her toughest gig yet, even though it is staged in Bath Theatre Royal's 120-seat studio. Following her West End shows 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Pillowman, she tackles the lead in Ibsen's masterpiece Hedda Gabler (1891), updated by Dunster. She stars as its titular vengefully bored 'trapped housewife' Hedda, a woman destructively indifferent to her flailing academic husband, and to the life and work of a brighter old flame, now his rival. It proves her biggest wow to date. From the moment she enters, pristine in chic blue pyjamas, hair scraped back, eyes glinting, to the devastating climax, passing through attitudes of comic brusqueness, mischief, viciousness and turmoil, she transfixes. The drawback of the production, in fact, is that, if anything, she eclipses those around her, including Ciarán Owens as her hapless hubby George and rising star Tom Austen as the visionary but vulnerable rival Jasper, a recovering alcoholic. So much is relayed through her icy gaze, her studied blankness, her surreptitious smile – that she often seems to be on a different plane of naturalism to everyone else. The cast could usefully follow her sometimes almost televisual lead (Imogen Stubbs as a clucking aunt is particularly fluttery). But everyone around Hedda is, in a way, doomed to seem extraneous and overblown. The anti-heroine's worldview – which we come to understand even if it perturbs us – is of the futility of pleasantries, and bourgeois creature comforts; she is in search of some elusive meaning. Her disgust at those who try to placate and animate her is a form of displaced self-hatred, too. Newly hitched, she has followed the path of least resistance to a place of deadly ennui. Dunster doesn't stint on modishness. Placing the action in a suffocating, nominally desirable living room lined by white curtains and wood panels (the inset doors of which are opened, distractingly, by unseen hands), the characters here consult mobiles, listen to pop (The Streets, saliently), and, in Allen's case, vape. The crucial manuscript of Jasper's masterwork that falls into her pitiless hands is now a laptop. It's a bit de trop to have her demanding a Tesla as a conjugal right, but the point is well made that, refusing to be a career woman but also rejecting old-school motherhood too (Hedda horrifically pummels her abdomen), she expresses a contemporary feminist nihilism; and is cryingly alone. Fans may enjoy discerning art meets life parallels, which seem to inform every canny theatre choice Allen makes. Besides the diva-ish behaviour, there are daddy issues (Hedda's late father was a record industry exec ruined by the advent of streaming). And aside from her own two marriage breakdowns, Allen has recently made controversial comments about the challenges of motherhood, saying it 'ruined' her career. Once again, she seems to be using creativity to explore her own experiences, and inner demons – and opening it all up to us – but the revelation is that the result works on its own terms too. Simply put, you need never have heard of Lily Allen to be impressed by this. Until Aug 23;
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nia DaCosta's HEDDA to Premiere at TIFF Before Streaming on Prime Video
If you're as movie-addicted as I am, with pearl-clutching for period dramas and sleepless nights over A24 teaser promos, then clear your schedule and drain your emotional warehouse. Nia DaCosta's HEDDA, the incendiary modern adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, premieres at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). And trust us, it's coming for your throat. After TIFF, the emotional quake hits Prime Video worldwide on October 29, 2025, in time for a psychologically chilling Halloween. HEDDA is not a film. It's a state of mind. It's a silk malfunction. It's women's fury encased in designer stilettos and ready to blow. And darling, it's going to be fabulous. You might know DaCosta from Candyman (2021) or as the first Black woman to direct a Marvel movie (The Marvels). With HEDDA, DaCosta is making history. She's writing, directing, and producing, and she's bringing Ibsen's 1891 play back down to electrifying contemporaneity and unstoppable sensuality. This is not your high school English class's Hedda Gabler. This is a woman hemmed in by the most cinematic possible means. We can leave it at that and applaud the cast to their feet because Tessa Thompson is Hedda. That's all. That's the news. Thompson, also the director, is a depth-feeling actress. Despite Sylvie's Love for Passing, she's been built for an acting role like that. In HEDDA, she's described as having a raw, feverish, downright enchanting performance. Hedda, as played by Tessa, is a woman suffocating beneath suffocating social conformity and gendered constraint, dressing herself in elegance as a disguise until she no longer does, from early word about individuals involved in the play. She's ably supported and encouraged by a cast who are literally glowing on paper. Imogen Poots is a catastrophe at all times in the best way Tom Bateman, whose cheekbones will need to have their own agent Nicholas Pinnock, with brooding screen intensity Nina Hoss, the German force of nature, you saw blow your mind in TÁR Devouring an entire long, lingerable night, HEDDA is full of that slow-build-key tension we snack on like gourmet popcorn. Bottled-up passion? Check. Old flame rekindled to burn again everywhere? Check. Mind games, manipulation, and women on the brink? Triple check. The trailer for 'A Whirlpool of Manipulation, Passion, and Betrayal' has my shrink prepped with the Kleenex, ahead of time. If you're a true cinephile, you already know a movie's as iconic as its department heads are. And HEDDA's got creds. Score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, Chernobyl) has you feeling every string section personally like it's an insult. Cinematography by Sean Bobbitt, BSC (12 Years a Slave, Widows) promises shadows, close-ups, and emotional destruction. Cutting by Jacob Schulsinger (The Worst Person in the World) promises no beat will be missed. Cara Brower's Production Design (The Menu) is recreated into the interiors, more lavish than Hedda herself. Lindsay Pugh's Costume Design (The Crown) is shouting period-present elegance, crying 'rich, miserable, and emotionally fraying.' TIFF is not a film festival. It is an awards-season barometer. That HEDDA is opening there speaks volumes about one thing loudly and clearly. Amazon and Plan B can smell Oscars. And I vow, DaCosta and Thompson walk into the Dolby Theatre next year with their names on ballot cards. October 29, 2025. That's when HEDDA premieres on Prime Video, and that's when your group chat becomes a raging debate about ethics, feminism, and whether Hedda is a villain or a victim. (She's both. That's the point.) Light a candle. Have a glass of red wine. Get ready to untangle. It's not a film. It's an audit. The post Nia DaCosta's HEDDA to Premiere at TIFF Before Streaming on Prime Video appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More.
Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Elgin News Digest: Park district adds pre-concert demos to summer concerts; U-46's production of ‘Man of La Mancha' opens Thursday
Dundee Township Park District will offer demonstrations of two of the programs it offers prior to its 7 p.m. Tuesday summer concerts in July. Each will start at 6 p.m. and last 45 minutes. They include: For the full schedule of concerts, go to The School District U-46 summer theater production of 'Man of La Mancha' will run Thursday through Saturday, June 26-28, at the Streamwood High School auditorium, 701 W. Schaumburg Road. More than 75 students and employees from across the district's five high schools make up the cast, musicians and technical crew for the musical, according to a U-46 newsletter. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and noon Saturday. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online through Booktix or at the door. The Janus Theatre Company opens its 27th season with 'The Ibsen Project: Hedda,' running Friday through Sunday, June 27-29, at the Elgin Arts Showcase, 164 Division St. Actors will perform Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler' with scripts in hand, according to the Janus website. For an added twist, each performance will feature a different translation of the Norwegian playwright's work. The production is part of this year's 'Season of Outsiders' and features classic stories from the past brought to life for today's audiences, the website said. It is sponsored in part by the city of Elgin and Elgin Cultural Arts Commission. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10. For tickets, go to For more about Janus' season, go to Duke's Blues Fest will be held from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, June 27, and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 28, in Carpenter Park, 275 Maple Ave., Carpentersville. In addition to live music music, the annual free festival will feature various food vendors, including southern cuisine, according to the event's social media post. Money raised goes to benefit nonprofit Taste the Love. Acts scheduled to perform Friday are Guitar Tony, Topeka Smith, The Johnsons, Michael Charles, Gloria and Ruth Ward and Tammy's Blues & Soul. Saturday's lineup will feature Blues Hart, The Cat Gaddis Project, Luke RePass, Carlisle Guy, the NuBlu Band and Sharay Reed. For more information, call 224-699-9030. Illinois' prairie ecosystems will be the topic of a Geneva Natural Resources Committee lecture at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the Geneva Public Library, 227 S. Seventh St. A Geneva Park District naturalist from Peck Farm Park will discuss the common characteristics of Illinois prairies and examine the different plants and animals found in prairies and methods land managers use to preserve them, event organizers said. The program is free but registration is recommended. For more information, go to the Geneva Public Library District's website,
Irish Independent
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Frank McGuinness: ‘I fell in love with Elizabeth Bennet and Huck Finn – they are brilliant, defiant and good for the exercise of body and mind'
Frank McGuinness was born in Co Donegal in 1953 and now lives in Dublin. He has written 16 plays including Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Carthaginians and Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and 20 adaptations of European classics. His version of Ibsen's A Doll's House won a Tony award.
Time Out
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Alicia Vikander will make her theatre debut in London opposite Andrew Lincoln in ‘The Lady from the Sea'
The Bridge Theatre has had a big juicy hole in its programming for some months now, smack bang between the imminent return of Nicholas Hytner's ecstatic immersive A Midsummer Night's Dream and Jordan Fein's revival of Sondheim's immortal Into the Woods. We'd hoped a starry play with an interesting director might plug the gap, and lo! It has come to pass. In a busy year for Ibsen adaptations – following the Lyric Hammersmith's Ghosts, the Ewan McGregor-starring My Master Builder and a Lily Allen-led spin on Hedda Gabler over in Bath – auteur Aussie director Simon Stone will put his own spin on The Lady from the Sea. And he's got some heavyweight leads in the shape of Andrew Lincoln and – in her stage debut – Academy Award-winning Swedish actor Alicia Vikander. Ibsen's 1889 drama concerns Ellida, a woman who has settled for a comfortable life that is shaken to the core when an old lover re-emerges. As with all Simon Stone's works – most famously his Billie Piper-starring West End hit Yerma – the play is a modern interpretation that he himself has adapted and directed, so it's hard to say precisely what details of the original will be retained, but he should do something pretty enthralling with it. Vikander is a prolific screen actor best known for playing Lara Croft in the 2018 version of Tomb Raider and for her Oscar-winning supporting turn in 2015's The Danish Girl. Lincoln was a regular on UK stages before finding major US success with The Walking Dead. Technically his last London stage role was playing Scrooge at the Old Vic's A Christmas Carol in 2020, though the show was performed in front of webcams in an empty theatre due to the pandemic. Vikander will play Ellida, and Lincoln her husband Edvard (whether the family name remains Wangel is TBC). There's a third major role of Ellida's dangerous ex-lover – in Ibsen simply called The Stranger – that is still to be cast, but all will presumably be revealed soon-ish. The show goes on general sale May 13, and you'll be able to .
