"I'm not playing Hedda as mad, or evil, or knowing, or conniving," says Lizzy Watts

Already the tour has taken in the refurbished Hull New Theatre in the autumn, and from Tuesday she will be playing the title role of the just married, already terminally bored Hedda in Patrick Marber's new adaptation at the Grand Opera House, York.

Belgian director Ivo van Hove's modern production has been described by reviewers as a "Hedda unlike any I have seen", "invigorating" and "ferocious", and Lizzy acknowledges you can expect the unexpected. "It's been lovely that it's been a surprise for the audience, especially for the students who've been to see it as it's a set text," she says.

"So hopefully it will surprise in York too, as a lot of people won't have seen it staged this way before. My Hedda changes all the time, depending on the audience and depending on my mood, and with Hedda I never feel like it's stopped being interesting, and the rest of the cast feel that about the play too. It's still stimulating and changing."

Lizzy, who had a featured role in the television drama The Durrells and has performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, has enjoyed working with van Hove's associates, Jeff James and Rachel Lincoln, on a role often seen as a "female Hamlet".

"Ivo wasn't in on our rehearsal process, though we did get these amazing notes from him for 'scene headers'," she says. "Maybe there'd be just one note for each character, thinking about how to play that scene, seemingly abstract but they really get to the heart of it.

"There's a scene where Hedda is trying to get between Lovborg [a writer] and Thea [Mrs Elvsted, a visitor], and my head-up from Ivo for that scene was, 'Lovborg is a god and Thea is a shrimp', which is a brilliant note to then play on."

Lizzy Watts, as Hedda, and Richard Pyros, as Lovborg, in the National Theatre's Hedda Gabler. Picture: BrinkhoffMögenburg

The set and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld is a character in itself. "Jan was very clear that he wanted only things on stage that we would use," says Lizzy. "He wanted us to utilise every prop or it wouldn't be on stage, and he wanted the room to be Hedda's room but also to represent what's going on in her head.

"He also designed the room as the builders would have left it, and when using the sofa in all those different ways, rather than in a literal way, he's using less to do everything, and that does give it a modern feel. As the play goes on, what you are left with at the end is everything being pushed up against the wall." It is a perfect metaphor for how Hedda feels.

Contemplating the "mammoth task" of playing Hedda was initially "quite scary" for Lizzy, "but one note from Ivo really helped," she says. "'Don't try to understand Hedda', he wrote. 'Play each moment; react to what's given to you by other actors; don't be frightened to behave illogically or irrationally'. That was a really good tool for the rehearsals and it means I still don't feel I've 'got' Hedda totally."

Nevertheless, she has no problem summing up Hedda's contradictory, remote, elusive personality. "Hedda is a young woman who has decided against following her inner drive and so she has chosen to settle down, to conform, to accept the security that marriage will bring her," she says. "In doing so, however, she is living a life she does not want to lead. She’s terrified by the outside world but she also wants to be free in the way that only a man is free in this society."

Hedda's self-destruction is one of theatre's most potent finales. "I was thinking how shocking it would be, when Ibsen wrote this play [1891] for a woman to have shot herself, and she still shocks the audience today, and she still shocks me as I can go as far as I want with her and it's still within her range," says Lizzy.

Adam Best's Brack and Lizzy Watts' Hedda in Hedda Gabler. Picture: BrinkhoffMögenburg

"What I've tried not to do is play Hedda as mad, or evil, or knowing, or conniving, or like she has a Machiavellian plan. Although she's a skilled manipulator, she reacts to the moment.It's not planned; she sees an opportunity and adapts to the situation. But what's also struck me is how she's so manipulated by the men, and that's why I have sympathy for her."

Playing the physically and mentally demanding Hedda on tour requires Lizzy to keep herself in peak condition. "I got into the habit right from the start of the tour of going to a steam room, which is good for my voice and for stretching, and I swim too," she says.

"I have to be regimented in what I eat; I have something big at lunchtime but then nothing till after the show, and I do a big warm-up before each performance. The company has arranged massages for us too, which really helps, as there are lots of stresses and strains, it's really cold at the moment and we're quite creaky on stage!"

Lizzy restricts herself to a couple of alcoholic drinks at the weekend. "There's a lot of responsibility that goes with playing Hedda. Being disciplined when you're heading up a show is vital; you really do feel that responsibility and you don't want to let anyone down," she says. "I've never done such an emotionally demanding part before, and touring is a challenge too, but it's given me the confidence to do it again."

She is still finding new nuances in Hedda. "Sometimes you feel, 'what else can I get out of it?', but I'm still getting more out of this role and the marvellous writing," says Lizzy.

What next? "I'd like to do something lighter," she says. "I'd love to do a classic comedy, maybe an Ayckbourn." Over to you, Sir Alan.

The National Theatre presents Hedda Gabler, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm nightly and 2.30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york