The honeymoon is over, and Hedda Gabler is already bored with her husband and the respectable life he represents. When an old rival arrives on the scene, Hedda seizes the chance to challenge what society would have her accept as “happiness,” instead asserting her powerful will and wreaking havoc on everyone in her reach. Henrik Ibsen’s masterwork shocked late-19th-century audiences with its complex portrait of female identity and independence, while gifting us with one of theatre’s great tragic characters.