A fresh adaptation of Hedda Gabler entitled simply Hedda will kick off the 2008-2009 season at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill. Co-artistic director Carrie Cracknell will direct Lucy Kirkwood's take on the Henrik Ibsen's play. Cara Horgan in the title role in the production, which will begin performances on August 21 and open on August 28. Hedda’s limited run will end on September 27.
In addition to Horgan, the cast includes Adrian Bower, Christopher Obi, Alice Patten, and Cath Whitefield.
That production will be followed by an encore engagement of I Am Falling, previously seen at the Gate in January but due to be performed this time at the Lilian Baylis Studio across town in Islington. A dance-theater piece with text by Jenny Worton and choreographed by Anna Williams, Cracknell's two-hander will play a brief run October 29-November 1.
Back at the Gate itself, Maria Aberg will direct the British premiere of the German writer Falk Richter's State of Emergency, in a new translation by David Tushingham. Swedish director Aberg has been on a roll of late that includes her scorching production of Roy Williams's Days of Significance for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Richter play runs November 6-December 13, opening on November 11.
Cracknell's Gate colleague and co-artistic director Natalie Abrahami will direct the follow-up play, Unbroken, which also marries dance and text, this time in a new version of Schnitzler's La Ronde from Alexandra Wood and featuring choreography by Belgium's Ugo Dehaes. That show runs February 5-March 7, 2009. with a February 10 opening night. The cast includes the dancers Darren Ellis and Gemma Higginbotham.
This Gate is not to be confused with Dublin's playhouse of the same name, which has sent numerous productions on to both London and New York.