It's been just 120 years since Hedda Gabbler was introduced to the world in Henrik Ibsen's acclaimed play of a young woman searching for her personal freedom with devastating results. While it remains a classic in its own right, writer Keziah Warner has taken this story and transported it into a contemporary setting with Her Father's Daughter.Performed in the Prahran Council Chambers, it is initially the perfect setting to reflect the lifestyle that Hedda and her husband have. The difficulty with performing in the chambers, while appropriately opulent, is that none of these 'rooms' create an atmosphere of being in someone's home and as such you are unable to believe in the world being presented.
Despite this, director Cathy Hunt utilises the spaces to allow for constant movement and action from the cast that prevents them from being enveloped by the adornment and furnishings of the rooms. She ensures there's a familiarity with the way in which the actors interact with the environment but the final scene had a few issues with blocking and the tension between Hedda and Brack could have gone further in exploring the intensity and gravity of the events leading up to that moment.