Rock Rock Crafting Collective: Hedda Gabler

A timeless script of love and hate, imprisoned within the confines of a woman's body and moral expectations.

A Soul's Struggle Between Confinement and Freedom, Love and Desire.

Hedda Gabler, the daughter of a general, marries the scholar Tesman after her family's decline, seeking both security and social prestige. However, her married life soon proves dull and suffocating, leaving her restless and constrained. When her former lover Eilert reenters her world—reformed and accompanied by a sincere, warmhearted woman—Hedda's jealousy, anxiety, and inner conflict are violently stirred. Torn between her desire to control the destinies of others and the emotional as well as practical pressures surrounding her, she spirals toward disorder and destruction.

Hedda, a celebrated socialite, finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage. She yearns for passion, but is bound by the shackles of morality. This enigmatic woman is about to unleash a storm on stage.

A classic masterpiece by Henrik IBSEN, "the father of modern drama," Hedda Gabler has been one of the most beloved plays worldwide since its premiere in 1891. It remains one of IBSEN's most challenging and enduring works. In Ibsen’s writing, this is not merely a tale of marital tragedy, but a profound reflection on the values of contemporary society. Each character carries their own ideals, desires, and vulnerabilities, intertwining in ways that are both distinct and deeply resonant. Hedda's struggle and defiance ultimately lead to an irreversible end, shaping a modern tragedy that continues to shock and move audiences.

Hedda's beauty and intelligence are both her weapons and her chains. She longs to control everything, yet becomes lost in a whirlpool of desires. When a former love re-enters her life, can she break free from her constraints and pursue her true self?

This production, based on the classic text, offers a contemporary reflection. Through a brilliant script, profound character portrayals, and precise performances, it leads the audience to explore the complexities of love, desire, and human nature.

Rock Rock Crafting Collective

Founded with the mission to become "a contemporary theatrical aesthetics laboratory that captures fleeting brilliance and transcends boundaries."  

The mission of "Rock Rock Crafting Collective" is to be a laboratory of contemporary theatrical aesthetics that captures inspiration and transcends boundaries. It always pursues theatricality. The creative process is not restricted by time, medium, form, or subject matter. It breaks free from consumptive or standardized creative types and explores new modes of aesthetic expression and creation. The collective aims to remain open to active exploration and practice, engaging in cultural dialogues within the context of theater, while constantly reevaluating itself and its attitude towards life. "Rock Rock Crafting Collective" is a space where skills transcend time and imagination is cultivated on an extraordinary scale. It delves into the depths of endless time, using skills to explore the caverns of memory. Amidst the continuous shifts of time and space, it rocks the established, loosens the inherent, and carves the existing, capturing a moment that is eternal.

Established in 2023 by Artistic Director Yujun Wang and Creative Director Yiling Tsai,Rock Rock Crafting Collective builds upon a shared foundation of theatrical exploration from their student years. With roots in music and performance, their collaboration spans traditional theatre, unconventional performances, poetic recitals, and spatial and installation art. Over the years, each has amassed extensive experience and insight within their respective fields. The collective realization of the need to carve out new creative spaces and forge a shared path culminated in the founding of Rock Rock Crafting Collective.

Rock Rock Crafting Collective aims to establish two opposing conceptual paths as its trajectories: text and non-text, narrative and de-narrative, classic and experimental. By navigating and oscillating between these two trajectories, it seeks to generate a spatial field for multidimensional thinking in contemporary art.

In today's digital world, the value of live performance becomes even more significant. Each journey in life is a magnificent and unique story, and this belief forms the foundation of our creative narrative. In 2023, Rock Rock Crafting Collective debuted its first production, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, at the Tainan Arts Festival. This production represents the first pathway we are building—a creative method that uses classic texts as a solid foundation while reaffirming theatre as our core medium, continually drawing sustenance from it. The enduring questions and eternal echoes found within classic works serve as an endless source of inspiration, guidance, and reflection. Through these timeless stories, we aim to preserve the mysteries and questions surrounding life and the world, opening them up for exploration with our audience. Together, we seek to create new viewing experiences and expand the possibilities of "the art of the moment," unveiling more facets of its beauty and potential.  

In contrast to the first path that begins with text, the troupe launched "明 Dawn to Dawn" in 2024 as the second project of the Rock Rock Crafting Collective series. This attempt explores a reverse

concept, starting from de-textualization and narrative deconstruction to establish a second creative path. With an experimental spirit as its core value, the work integrates sound, lighting, visuals, unconventional materials, and spatial concepts. It facilitates the interpenetration of heterogeneous elements in theater, posing inquiries and reflections on contemporary issues and conditions. This approach summons the differences between theatrical aesthetics and contemporary art.

Rock Rock Crafting Collective aims to continue and deepen the tradition of collective theatre-making by inviting artists from diverse disciplines to explore and establish unique creative methodologies. Our creative process prioritizes fostering intimate and trusting relationships between the team and the audience within shared spaces. With an open-minded approach to themes and forms, we focus on uncovering channels for dialogue between creation and the audience, sharing perspectives and stories.  

Photos provided by Weiwuying (National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts)