“Hedda Gabler” is the story of a spider.

Everything and everyone who comes close to the spider becomes caught in her web. Spinning and twisting, controlling all that she touches, the spider is sick in the head. Cold and calculating, the spider manipulates everyone in her way. Until one day, when the spider spins the web too tightly, and predator becomes prey.

It is hard to pull off a classical play-let alone a play by a Norwegian playwright-yet Saint Louis University’s Theatre Company did so with flying colors.

“Hedda Gabler,” a four-act play written by Henrik Ibsen, opened Friday, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. under the direction of Gary Barker.

The play opens with an exchange between George Tesman (sophomore Christian Vieira) and his aunt Miss Julia Tesman (senior Jennifer Stewart) regarding his recent honeymoon. George’s wife Hedda (senior Paris McCarthy) quickly interrupts the two and proceeds to disparage Julia.

The central plotline revolves around psychological conflict and a love triangle including Hedda, Judge Brack (senior Dylan Duke) and Eilert Lovbor (sophomore Justin James Leibrecht).
Hedda is drawn to power-not by those who possess it, but rather by those whom she can control. This is made extremely clear in the relationship between Hedda and Mrs. Elvsted (sophomore Emily Guck).

Throughout the play, Hedda manipulates and torments Elvsted like a kid holding a magnifying glass on an ant. Hedda’s unnatural control over others can best be compared to Chris Hansen from “Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator.” During several points of the show, Hedda conjures truth from her victims by instructing them to “have a seat.”

The first act of the play is awkward and marked by slow action, inherent in Ibsen’s work. The actors seem unnaturally stiff during the opening; however, by the third act, the play is locked into a solid tempo driving toward the end.

Although almost every actor over-enunciated his or her lines on opening night, two gave exemplary performances. Duke, much like Larry Fine from the Three Stooges, is a grade-A reactionist. It is clear that Duke pays attention to the action on stage as if it is his first time in the scene.

A largely physical actor, Duke’s reactions, at times, match more of a large-scale production at the Fabulous Fox Theatre than the intimate setting of Xavier Theatre. The star, though, is McCarthy, who seems to have been born to play Hedda Tesman. At times, her cold and demented expressions sent shivers down the audience’s spines. Though small in stature, McCarthy was able to capture the manipulative and dominating personality of Hedda Tesman.

Classical plays are difficult to pull off, but if the SLU community enjoys twisted women and can sit through an hour of VH1’s “Rock of Love” or MTV’s “A Shot At Love,” then they should enjoy “Hedda Gabler.”

“Hedda Gabler” is playing today and Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m.