A Tale of Two Shows in the Same City: HEDDA GABLER Meets 1984

A few weeks ago, in a coffee shop on 7th Avenue in Manhattan, two directors sat down for a little shop talk. Kelly McCready was joined by Dave Stishan, both of whom are directing shows in the Astoria/Long Island City area, both of which are adaptations.

McCready is directing a modernized Hedda Gabler, the Ibsen classic about a high-society woman who gave it all up for domesticated life while Stishan, Artistic Director of MidCity Productions, is at the helm for a stage adaptation of Orwell's timely dsytopian masterpiece, 1984, adapted to the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan.

The productions are set to be staged at The Ophelia Theatre Group in Astoria and The Flux Factory in Long Island City, respectively, but it's not just the location of the theatres, or the fact that they are doing adaptations of famous but timely works, that brought these two together.

Scroll down for a conversation with the two directors!

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Dave: I think both have that overarching theme of someone being trapped. What do you do when you're trapped? Do you want to find comfort in that entrapment? Almost like developing Stockholm Syndrome? Or do you realize, "This isn't for me and I've got to find a way out?" And with Hedda we see her say to herself, "I see what's happened to me and I need to get out. How do I do it? Did it work? Do I want to keep pushing to get out?"

Kelly: And, "Can I leave?" I think what's interesting about this adaptation is that we've built in a moment where she does try to leave the house. She stands at the door and she's ready to go, and then somebody stops her at the last moment. I don't want the audience to leave saying, "I have no sympathy for her. I don't understand why she didn't just leave the house."

Dave: It's like that horror movie moment! Just leave the house!

Kelly: Exactly! There's nothing worse than watching smart people make bad decisions. But if they're genuinely trying and everything they're doing makes sense and you understand their perspective then I think it should resonate.

David: Totally! For Winston, he's trapped in this society and the society says to him, "You have to do it our way. You do it our way, we won't have an issue. You don't do it our way, then we've got a problem." So he's trapped living this status quo, and when he develops this ability to think for himself and to explore and express himself it's frightening at first and the minute he breaks out and pursues that relationship with Julia, becomes a sexual person and breaks the ranks, he's then physically trapped by the Thought Police and they throw him into Room 101.

Kelly: Is there ever a thing with Winston where he wishes he could take back that knowledge of the world?

David: I think there's definitely a point where he's tiptoeing around the idea of breaking free. Same thing with Hedda. They've been told by society that they can't do something, but there's something inside him, and her, that tells them to leave.

Kelly: That speaks to a line in this adaptation of Hedda where Judge Brack says to her, "You've never been challenged Hedda. And she says, "I'm just overeducated." Back in the days of Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote that there were women who went to college who regretted it because the more they learned about the world the more they learned about what they were missing. They almost wished they could take it back. But what's the alternative? Is it better to remain ignorant? To stay in the cave.

David: I think that when you're somebody like Hedda or Winston and you've tasted what life could be, there's no alternative. That idea is always going to stay with you.

Kelly: Do you think there's a clear antagonist in 1984?

David: I think the antagonist-and this is going to sound really meta and I'm kind of hating myself for it-but the antagonist is society.

Kelly: That's totally what I saw for Hedda as well! That's why she can't leave at the end of the play. Because it would change nothing. Her circumstances won't change, so there's no point.

David: You can fight a person. You can't fight a theory. I mean, we don't know if Big Brother is a real person. He's this omnipresent orb of intellect that no one has ever seen before and in the end, in 1984, society wins.

Kelly: I think there's a difference maybe in how Winston and Hedda handle their situations. At the end of the play, she may do something drastic, but there's beauty in it. It's an act of defiance. And it has to be cathartic for the audience. And there's something interesting in the antagonist being society: it's the audience. So at the end when Hedda realizes that society has beaten her, there's something powerful in being surrounded by people who have done nothing to help you. Who have watched you fall.

David: Hedda and Winston are beaten down by the action, or inaction, of society. So where do you turn to after that?

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ORWELL's '1984'
ADAPTED BY Michael Gene Sullivan
MIDCITY PRODUCTIONS

Dates:
November 2nd - 13th
Wednesdays through Fridays, November 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 at 7:30pm
Saturrdays November 5, 12 at 8pm
Sundays, November 6, 13 at 7pm
Preview: November 2nd
Opening Night: November 3rd

Location:
The Flux Factory, 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101

Tickets:
Wednesday, Nov. 2nd: Pay-What-You-Can Preview
All other shows: $18 through www.midcityproductions.org or at the door
Runtime: 120 minutes, 1 intermission

HEDDA GABLER
THE OPHELIA THEATRE GROUP

Dates:
October 28-November 19, 2016
Evening Performances: October 28 & 29, November 4, 5, 12, 18 &19 @ 8pm
Matinee performances: November 6 & 13 @ 3pm

Location:
21-12 30th Rd, Astoria, NY 11102
The Ophelia Theater entrance and parking lot is located in the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens off of 21st St.
Train: N or Q, 30 Ave. Stop

Tickets
General Admission: $18
Sunday Nights: Pay What You Can
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2664286
Runtime: 80 minutes, no intermission.