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Mary-Louise Parker is an accomplished actress, so it's quite a surprise to find her playing Hedda Gabler, the iconic 19th century anti-heroine as if she just wandered in from the set of "Weeds" or "Desperate Housewives" or "Gossip Girl."

Ibsen's classic, set in 1890 Norway, is getting an oddly-contemporary interpretation, even though the set and costumes remain firmly in the period. Nothing seems quite right in this bizarre production, from the casting to the translation to the direction and incidental music, this "Hedda" is unfortunately ill-conceived.

What we can't show you is the way the production begins. Parker is seen sleeping upstage in a daybed with her backside exposed beneath a tilted mirror -- a provocative image that does nothing to clarify the director's cock-eyed vision for this classic Ibsen work.

Ian Rickson was widely and deservedly praised for his inspired production of Chekhov's "The Seagull" this year, so it's such a disappointment to find that lightning did not strike twice. Christopher Shinn's flat, colloquial adaptation is no help. They've given us an anomalous "Hedda" straddling two worlds with one foot in the past and another in the modern.

For her part, Parker makes little attempt to bridge the gap, her line readings, body language and snarky expressions all betray a Hedda, who seems more suited to a TV soundstage than a Broadway theatre. At any moment you half expect her to blurt out "whatever".

The charismatic Michael Cerveris is a strange choice to play Hedda's geeky husband, Tesman – the dynamic between them seems way off. Swedish actor Peter Stormare turns Judge Brack into a lascivious drunk. Ana Reeder as the respectable long-suffering Thea is more whiny than sympathetic and Paul Sparks as Tesman's rival, Eilert Lovborg, brings to mind Rhett Butler.

They're all gifted actors but in this case, frankly, it's really hard to give a darn.

"Hedda," if done correctly, reminds us how impossible it was for intelligent women to thrive in a world dominated by the smoky confines of patriarchal society. Ibsen's great pre-feminist work is sadly reduced to a soap opera here. Hedda may know how to handle pistols, but this production is a misfire.