The Company Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler!

Deepak Sinha
Feb 9
3 min read

Updated: Mar 10

I first saw Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler on National Theatre for Home. This production featured the Golden Globe-winning actress Ruth Wilson in the title role. The frailties, agony, and self introspection that she portrayed blew my mind. Lately, I have been eager to catch a live production of this play. Fortunately, I have The Company Theatre to count on. They are staging Summum’s version of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at Prithvi Theatre on 24 February 2026.

The Theatre Company has also announced shows at Rangshila on 28 February 2026 and NCPA on 1 March 2026.

About the Play

"It's a liberation to know that an act of spontaneous courage is yet possible in this world. An act that has something of unconditional beauty.”

— Hedda Gabler

The play follows Hedda, the daughter of a general, who feels trapped in a marriage and a life she never wanted. Chafing against domestic ennui and rigid social expectations, she seeks power and control over those around her. This quest reveals the destructive effects of repression, patriarchy, and the lack of freedom afforded to women. The production is supported by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Mumbai.

Director’s Note

Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler remains disturbingly relevant more than a century after it was written. In the Indian context, the idea of freedom for women is layered, shaped by class, caste, gender, community, and cultural norms. Ibsen’s play resonates strongly within this landscape. The story exposes how social systems can produce a distorted version of independence that is born not from choice but from sheer helplessness. It speaks to the ongoing struggle that shapes women’s lives across cultures.

This production approaches Hedda not as a victim seeking sympathy, but as a dangerous consequence of prolonged suffocation.

For me, staging Hedda Gabler is both an artistic and philosophical act. It is a refusal to accept hollow lives shaped by fear, conditioning, and social approval. It stands as a protest against living without purpose or agency in a world that denies individuals the freedom to imagine themselves otherwise.

I find myself asking: Does society allow women the possibility of complexity without punishment? Does it accept a woman as a flawed human being without judgment and capable of empathy? What forms does female agency take when all ethical avenues are closed?

Central to Hedda's character is a severe and uncompromising aesthetic sensibility. She is governed by a need for form, control, and intention. Hedda recoils from banality, disorder, and compromise. Within this worldview, meaning must be authored. When life offers her no space to act with purpose, she begins to manifest control elsewhere.

The Company Theatre: A Creative Force

The Company Theatre (TCT) was formed in 1993 with a singular commitment to the performing arts. It is an ensemble of professionals engaged in an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach to diverse art forms. Their work is rooted in a search for the truth of human experience through performance.

To continually explore new modes of expression and share creative knowledge, TCT actively seeks collaborations with diverse cultural bodies and artists with varied backgrounds, skill sets, and interests. The Company Theatre’s focus on research and intensive process work for creating new performance vocabulary led to the establishment of TCT Workspace—an International Residency for Performing Arts situated in the countryside of Maharashtra. TCT Workspace serves as a residential arts facility for individual artists and company ensembles to experiment, innovate, and explore in a dedicated performing arts laboratory.