The decision will be made by one of the guests at the party, Professor Greenwood (Finbar Lynch), who is there with his wife, Tabitha (Mirren Mack). As the evening gets under way, an uninvited guest arrives: a former schoolmate of Hedda’s named Thea (Imogen Poots), who, belying her mousy air, has boldly left her husband to become Eileen’s lover and collaborator. Meanwhile, a debonair and nonchalant judge, Roland Brack (Nicholas Pinnock), who has arranged George’s loan for the expensive property, is also dallying with Hedda and plots to use his influence—his power, rather—to tighten their extramarital bond. The party thus plays out as a high-stakes tribunal on which George’s career and Hedda’s comfort depend. The story’s MacGuffin is a manuscript that Eileen brings along to show off to Greenwood—of her forthcoming book, co-written with Thea. She thinks that it will make her name, win her the professorship, and thereby enable her to live her unconventional life more freely. That MacGuffin, it will shock no reader of Ibsen to learn, is what Hedda plans to destroy, with Eileen as collateral damage.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter