Hedda Gabler

(Court House Theatre, 27 July 2012)

The play is an argument for a social order in which there is no one to blame but oneself.

Powerless, one seeks the environment whose safety is signalled by its natural beauty. Free, one strives for the perfection that is man-made beauty. Obsession with beauty is thus found at the extremes, in desperation and in inspiration.

Humans enslave themselves to ideas or, more commonly, other humans. A well-designed society at least ought to provide one with the freedom to choose what or who to enslave oneself to.