Since Hedda Gabler exploded onto European and American stages in the1890s, the play and its title character have troubled and transfixed audiences, performers, and critics the world over. This Routledge Literary Sourcebook balances essential reprinted texts with clear, incisive commentary to:

-set the play within the contexts of Norwegian nationalism, the women's movement, and the cultural movement of Naturalism;
-examine -- and emphasize the links between -- the performance and criticism of the play, from 1890 to the present;

A Sourcebook on Naturalist Theatre provides essential primary sources which document one of the key movements in modern theatre. Three writers are selected to exemplify the movement, and six plays in particular:

-Henrik lbsen -- A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler
-Anton Chekhov -- The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard
-George Bernard Shaw -- Mrs Warren's Profession and Heartbreak House

The illuminating introduction provides a fascinating overview of naturalist theatre. Key themes include:
-the representation of women
-significant contemporary issues

Following the Second World War German drama established itself as a forum for political discussion, a means of commenting on and questioning society. Faced with the traumatic experience of devastation, division, and communal guilt, dramatists were forced not only to extend Brecht's experiments of the twenties and thirties, but to develop radical forms of expression and presentation. These are shown to have been seminal for modern theatre in general.