N B C University Theater: Hedda Gabler

Written by Henrik Ibsen

Narrated by Virginia Christine

'NBC University Theater’ initially started in Chicago with a remit to bring adaptations of classic novels, usually Anglo-American, to a radio audience.

Additionally, if listeners signed up they received college credit to a radio-assisted correspondence course. A study guide, The Handbook of the World's Great Novels, was available for 25 cents.

In its later years it also included short stories and plays and went on to win the distinguished Peabody award.

Unlike many other radio shows University Theatre did not pursue the glamourous stars for its productions but instead relied on excellent distillations of the novels and first class acting alongside high production values.

But now its time to enjoy these timeless novels. Let’s begin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781787808409

Henrik Ibsen

Born in 1828, Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet, often associated with the early Modernist movement in theatre. Determined to become a playwright from a young age, Ibsen began writing while working as an apprentice pharmacist to help support his family. Though his early plays were largely unsuccessful, Ibsen was able to take employment at a theatre where he worked as a writer, director, and producer. Ibsen’s first success came with Brand and Peter Gynt, and with later plays like A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder he became one of the most performed playwrights in the world, second only to William Shakespeare. Ibsen died in his home in Norway in 1906 at the age of 78.