HEDDA GABLER

Hedda Gabler (2004)
By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Robin Nevin

Silk satin, chenille passementerie trim

Acclaimed and beloved designer Kristian Fredrikson (1940-2005) had a celebrated career across theatre, ballet, opera and dance in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Fredrikson worked with STC on productions such as The School for Scandal (2001), A Doll’s House (2002), and Major Barbara (2003).

His final collaboration with the company was the landmark production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in 2004, featuring Cate Blanchett as Hedda. The stunning costumes created for this production by Fredrikson, including this gorgeous satin gown, were by his own admission among his favourite costumes that he ever produced.

Kristian Fredrikson passed away in 2005, one year after Hedda Gabler premiered. 

Cate Blanchett (Hedda Gabler): "Kristian Fredrikson was legendary and collaborating with him was an unforgettable experience."

Mary Anne Lawler (Costumier): "He did very, very beautiful drawings."

Fiona Crombie (Set Designer): "Kristian doesn't colour his costumes until he has started the process, until they start buying. So he sits back and waits for the set designer to resolve the colour issue, which means that he is really sympathetic to the set and the palette of the set."

Scott Fisher (STC Costume Manager): "The beautiful trim is from a Japanese company called Mokuba, and they do this gorgeous, lovely trimming. It's got chenille woven through the guipure."

Mary Anne Lawler: "There are hidden darts [under the trimming]. When you've got braid and stuff like that, you can hide things. It just would have ruined the design if you could see sewing lines through there.

"There was a bit of a quick change, so we just put fake buttons and then we added hooks and bars."

Cate Blanchett: "I had just had our second child, so getting in and out of the costume to breastfeed was important."

Solitary conjurer of stage magic
by Jane Albert
The Australian, 24 January 2005, p. 7

"Fredrikson is known as "the layer designer": one of his great skills is to put two or three layers of economical fabric together to create the illusion of a sumptuous fabric. "Theatre is a magic trick, from the performers to the designer to the director," he says. "I’m hoping to create audiences’ dreams."

Actors, he says, are the most stimulating artists. Last year he worked on Hedda Gabler with Cate Blanchett, whom he found "fiercely intelligent".
Made by Mary Anne Lawler; Worn by Cate Blanchett; Photo by Joanna Shuen

"What Cate was looking for [in her costumes] was not what would make her beautiful but what her character would wear. The whole thing became a character study; we went through the history of Hedda, how she would spend her days. It’s the closest I have worked with an actress, and my favourite costumes."

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ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Kristian Frederikson: Designer by Michelle Potter