Lee Hae-young Revives ‘Hedda Gabler’ After 13 Years

May 19, 2025

Lee Hae-young Revives ‘Hedda Gabler’ After 13 Years
'heda Gabler'Lee Hye-young, directed by Park Chung-hee (from left). Photo = Reporter Cho Min-jeong



Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece 'Hedda Gabler' has returned to the stage of the National Theater Company's Myeongdong Arts Theater after 13 years. In 2012, Lee Hye-young, who swept the Korean Theater Awards and the Dong-A Theater Awards for Women's Performance, setting a record of all seats sold out, returned to 'heda', and director Park Chung-hee, who had the premiere, was also in charge of directing again.

At a press conference held on the 19th, the two agreed that "This performance is a challenge for completion."

"Hedda Gabler is a unique piece of work and if it was suitable for me at the time of its premiere, this time it is a more refined process of wearing it," Lee Hye-young explained. Director Park Chung-hee "Lee Hye-young is an actor who goes beyond the imagination of directing." He was more mature and deeper than before," he said, giving high praise.




'Hedda Gabler' is Ibsen's masterpiece about the desire for freedom and the destructive impulse amid oppression, centered on Hedda, the heroine who tries to preserve her identity by writing her father's saint 'Gabler' instead of her husband, Tessmann's last name. Director Park Chung-hee interpreted "Heda as a person who experienced Dionysus" and "A being who moves toward destruction and creation to escape from the rotten dinner of life". He explained that the scene of pointing a gun at the audience and characters on stage is the maximization of such a symbol.

In the process of creating the character, Lee Hye-young revealed that she did not identify herself with Hedda. "I did not connect the identity of director Lee Man-hee's daughter with the identity of General Gabler of Hedda." I only focused on the emotions and promises on stage." As for Hedda's choice of marriage, he explained that `I have no affection, but I felt a strong desire to survive to accept the system of marriage.'

This performance also attempted major changes in costumes and stage settings. Set in the mid-1970s when hippism was active, the stage raised tensions with psychedelic lighting and music. Director Park Chung-hee said "At that time, the young people's desire for freedom, desire, and utopia were in line with Hedda's longing."




Lee Hae-young Revives ‘Hedda Gabler’ After 13 Years
photo courtesy of the National Theater Company
There was also a reason why the opening was postponed. The performance, which was originally scheduled to open on May 8, was postponed the day before the opening due to actor Yoon Sang-hwa's health problems. The newly joined actor Hong Sun-woo joined the practice by playing the role of Brack, and director Park Chung-hee said, `The concentration of memorizing the lines in two days was impressive. I admired the potential of an actor," he said. Lee Hye-young also said "It was because of the creativity of the actors that I was able to perform again without giving up even in despair."

Director Park Chung-hee expressed Hedda as a being living with deficiency, not a 'Woman Who Wants to Be God'. The stage has a magic that makes the actors not aware of their age," he added. Lee Hye-young also acted like a performance since practice. I wanted to give trust as Hedda so that my juniors could trust me and follow me."

Hedda's destruction is not just death, it is also the possibility of a new creation. "There is no play that can be completed without the audience," Lee Hye-young said. Every time, I create a new work with a new audience. "It's responsible for delivering classical music to young audiences in a new way," he stressed.




The 'gungu' brought out again by director Lee Hye-young and Park Chung-hee is not just about death. The gun aims at the intangible goals of human nature, free will, and the possibility of creation. And their drawing of '21st Century Hedda' is not just limited to women's stories, but is still aimed at the present as a human being who embraces the conflicts and desires of the times.

The National Theater Company's play 'Heda Gabler' will be performed at the Myeongdong Arts Theater until June 2.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.