IT must be something of a daunting prospect for an actor to tackle a 120-year-old classic, and one that's been translated into English at that.
Perhaps more daunted were the audience for the opening night of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, who may not have known exactly what they'd taken on.
Without a doubt, this was a showcase for the talents of Bond girl Rosamund Pike – as the leading lady - and Robert Glenister, who both more than rose to the challenge.
A darkly comic masterpiece, the show is based around several triangular relationships, with knowledge and understanding on all sides serving only to stretch, pull and strain to the inevitable tragic conclusion.
And yet the audience seemed a little nervous to lose themselves into the action.
A couple of mid-act scene changes wrong-footed the usually compliant Nottingham playgoers with a lone round of applause after a very pregnant pause prompting the others to join in. This was coupled with some rather nervous laughter for the lighter comic or ironic lines spun by the cast.
It was nice to see Anna Carteret, still best known for TV's Juliet Bravo, alongside classical and comedy actor Tim McInnerny (RSC and Blackadder), with Zoe Waites (Doctors, The New Adventures of Robin Hood) and Janet Whiteside (The IT Crowd) as accomplished supports.
But it was the elegant, striking Rosamund Pike who made her presence felt on stage. Sweeping majestically in her gorgeous fitted gowns, she was clearly a woman not to be messed with. And rarely do we see a woman so at home with a pair of equally elegant pistols.
Hedda thought she could get everyone eating out of her hand but of course after seemingly engineering such a result, things unravel spectacularly around her.
