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An innovative interpretation of one of the most insolent, controversial and influential 20th-century plays. The character of Hedda today is more alive than ever, containing an emphasised individual note along with a boundless awareness on the freedom of one’s own will. Ibsen’s play is an extraordinary example of heterogeneous dramatic motives and needs to be interpreted at least from two relational perspectives: one perspective being the social and the literary context of the time in which the play was written, the other perspective being the contemporary position. And in-between the entire 20th century (!) of changes and turbulences.
The play begins at the moment when Hedda returns from a six-month wedding-study trip to a “dream house” with her husband Jörgen Tesman. It is, however, in this new home that she feels entrapped more than ever in a corset of moral conventions, social restraints and her own lack of fulfilment. She cannot breathe, she cannot live in the cage of family life, she cannot stand the banal boredom of the everyday life and her own inner schism. A deep drama develops out of seemingly banal reasons as Hedda becomes aware that she herself will decide on the manner of combat.

Today Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor is the largest cultural and artistic institute in Slovenia, which is organised into five units: Drama, Opera, Ballet, Symphonic Orchestra and the Borštnik Festival. The Technology Department and Administration Department are common to all of them. In 2009 there were 324 full-time and 150 sessional employees. On five different stages and halls there are 13 premieres held each season (7 dramas, 4 operas, 2 ballets) and 14 concerts, which altogether makes 500 performances seen by approximately 200.000 visitors. SNG Maribor makes guest performances in Slovenia and abroad where, especially in recent years, it has been as one of the most important ambassadors of Slovene theatre creativity.

“The main focus lies within human condition as such, in relations, complexity of one’s character, suppressed instincts, imaginary, yet unfulfilled life, and all of that psychological bog, in which we find – if we dig deep enough – one’s amazing and usually vulnerable impulses.”
Zala Dobovšek, Pogledi, 25. 2. 2015

“Each and every member from the group of actors – Jurij Drevenšek, Maša Žilavec, Mateja Pucko, Ivo Ban and Matjaž Tribušon – represents a remarkable achievement in drama act, and yet it is quite obvious that the play’s essence lies with Nataša Matjašec Rošker: this is the play for her. She took an absolute advantage and outplayed herself inside out: not even for a blink of an eye, she does not sink into typical hysteria; she is well self-possessed, yet restless, and very precise in each characterization and mysteriously ambiguous.”    
Petra Vidali, Večer, 14. 2. 2015