Hedda
Gabler
Grete Sofie Borud Nybakken som Hedda Gabler / Photo: Erik Berg
The Norwegian National Ballet's acclaimed success is back!
Marit Moum Aune's Ibsen ballets have been praised by critics both in Norway and abroad. You can now experience Hedda Gabler once more, this time retold through dance, with music by Nils Petter Molvær.
Is Ibsen best as dance?
‘Hearts explode when the Norwegian National Ballet dances Ibsen’ a reviewer wrote about Hedda Gabler. Marit Moum Aune's Ibsen trilogy is one of the company's greatest triumphs, award-winning and acclaimed both in Norway and internationally.
In February, the second part of the trilogy returns to the Main Stage – with interpretations in dance that add a new dimension to Ibsen's realism.
The original theatre play is a concentrated chamber drama where much remains unspoken, yet Moum Aune and the dancers paint with broader strokes. Hedda's world is opened up as we delve deeper into her relationships and background. We are shown sweeping scenes that are only hinted at in Ibsen's text, where every movement serves a purpose in telling the story.
Read the articleThe intensity of this production takes the physicality of ballet to another level
Graham Watts, Bachtrack (2026)
Trapped in the unbearable lightness of being
Hedda is furious, and the disappointment is consuming her. A six-month honeymoon in Europe has come to an end, and now she is supposed to settle into a new life and home with her husband. Nothing has turned out as she imagined, and when a former lover Eilert Løvborg turns up, she reacts in a way that is dangerous for everyone – including herself.
... has taken dance theatre to a whole new level
INGER MARIE KJØLSTADMYR, DAGSAVISEN (2017)
Ibsen's most wicked woman
Hedda Gabler is one of world drama’s most iconic figures – a character created by Henrik Ibsen. Is she cowardly or courageous? Spoilt or trapped? Wicked or desperate?
Our greatest actors have continually found new ways to interpret this psychologically complex role. National Ballet soloist Grete Sofie Borud Nybakken created her own interpretation – and was showered with praise for her performance.
Nybakken says the role has changed her both as a dancer and as a person. You now have a new chance to experience her as Hedda on the Main Stage.
A work of searing intensity (...)
DAVID MEAD, SEEING DANCE (2017)
- Free introduction (in Norwegian) one hour before the performance
- Please note that stage smoke and e-cigarettes are used in this production. Nudity occurs.