This review – Ibsen is transported to the world of pencil mustaches and tea dresses | platform

TThe strength of Tanika Gupta’s adaptation lies in Hedda’s newly written mystery. Ibsen’s classic novel is transported into the world of filmmakers and film stars in 1948 London, with its tea dresses, pencil moustache, and newly independent India. A powerful and frank reimagining, Hedda Gupta shines a light on middle-class racism in postwar England, where a casual slur is no more noticed in conversation than a polite sneeze.

Hedda (Pearl Chanda), a film star in early retirement, hides her dual Anglo-Indian heritage. In a period of institutional racism in the film industry, with segregated on-screen love stories, she knows that the discovery of her identity will destroy her carefully curated life. Directed by Hettie MacDonald, the play’s neglected characters make the consequences of such revelations evident in the way they talk about Shona (Rena Vatania, piercing and precise), Hedda’s maid, as if she barely existed. Even Hedda’s hapless husband George (Joe Bannister) doesn’t suspect Hedda’s true connection with the older woman, an inspiring pairing that yearns for more stage time.

This engaging way of re-seeing Hedda’s willful toughness gives her all the more reason to hide away from the world and lends weight to her need to get rid of the extremely revealing manuscript written by her ex-lover, Lenny (Jake Mann, who plays the tortured artist well). As the only one she knew before she started pretending, Leni tries to tear down Hedda’s cold facade, but she is stubborn. As for everyone else, like George’s ex Alice (a puppyish Baby Cave), she is at best indifferent, and at worst downright — incredibly — contemptuous.

Beyond the ambiguity of Hedda’s secret and the sinister racial politics that seep through their interactions, the play struggles to build tension. A group of friends, family and former lovers dart in and out of the hapless couple’s new Chelsea home (a sumptuously carpeted Simon Kenny design), declaring their intentions, objections and concerns as easily as if they were describing what they wanted to have for lunch. The external context of this adaptation is bold and fresh. But the emotions behind the characters’ internal battles are often told rather than felt, their actions lack motivation, and the speed of their fall somewhat understates their impact.