At 63, South Korean actress Lee Hye-young turns age into an edge as Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler

SINGAPORE – First staged 135 years ago during the nascent women’s rights movement, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s proto-feminist play Hedda Gabler is only now captivating South Korean audiences. In an unlikely coincidence, two concurrent stagings in May 2025 competed for audiences in Seoul.

South Korean actress Lee Hye-young, 63, who stars as the titular character in the sold-out National Theater Company of Korea (NTCK) production, believes it is because of something fundamental about a woman’s existence within the institution of marriage.