By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN — Something exciting is going on at Long Wharf’s Stage II in the form of artistic director Doug Hughes’ version of Hedda Gabler. Recognized as the father of modern drama for his psychological realism and his exploration of human motives, Ibsen on stage can sometimes be heavy going.

Mr Hughes has circumvented the problem of stilted Victorian language and stuffy drawing room conversations by writing his own version of the play, based on a literal translation from the original Norwegian. The result is a seamless blend that captures the mood of 19th Century Norway with its social pressures and inhibitions, but also resonates convincingly with modern audiences.

Hedda Gabler covers the last three days in the life of a strong and beautiful young woman who is embittered by the narrow limitations placed on her by gender. The daughter of a general, Hedda, who rode galloping horses and handled her father’s pistols, dreams of power and greatness but lives in a society where women have neither political nor economic rights, and are totally dependent on the protection of men.

After her father’s death, Hedda has a passionate affair with the wild and profligate Eilert Lovborg, but her fear of scandal leads her to break it off. Instead, nearing age 30 and feeling socially vulnerable, she marries the malleable but kind-hearted George Tesman. George is so thrilled at having, as he imagines, won the heart of such an exciting woman that he spends more than he can afford to take her on a six-month honeymoon tour of the continent, then brings her back to a mansion she once expressed a desire for.

The play opens as the newlyweds are settling into their new home. Martha Plimpton portrays the title character in the New Haven production, who is visibly seething as she faces the reality of life with George, whose hopes for a professorship rest on the eventual publication of his life’s work — a study of the textile industry in 14th Century Brabant — and whose vision of domestic tranquility includes daily visits with the spinster aunts who raised him.

The plot is set in motion with the news that George now has a rival for his expected university appointment. Hedda’s former lover has not only sobered up and reformed, but he has published a highly regarded book of his own, a history of western civilization.

Living up in the mountains and working as a tutor in a magistrate’s household, Eilert has completed his work with the help of his employer’s new young wife, the timid and gentle Thea Elvsted, who is herself in love with Eilert.

Hedda’s craving for power in the abstract finds its direction in her resolve to wield control over the lives of people around her. Using her magnetic charm and playing on the weaknesses and gullibility of others, she sets her traps and perpetuates devastating cruelty.

With the play first opened in 1890, Ibsen was vilified for creating an unbelievable monster. Respectable audiences refused to accept Hedda’s behavior.

Under Mr Hughes’ direction, Ms Plimpton brings Hedda to credible life. We don’t sympathize with her, but we do recognize her strength and appreciate the ominous nature of the frustration building inside, as there is no apparent outlet for that strength.

The intellectual climate is subtly reflected in the passionate writings and nature of Eilert Lovborg, played with Byronic abandon by Quentin Mare. Mr Mare’s work is contrasted by Graham Winton as the pedantic George and Jenny Bacon as the patiently devoted Thea.

Richard Poe is cunning and sophisticated in the pivotal role of Judge Brack, ostensibly a family friend but with a predatory agenda of his own who becomes the catalyst for the events that follow.

The Long Wharf production re-creates the stifling, closed, judgmental society that was 19th Century Lutheran Norway as clearly as the paintings and woodcuts of that famous Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. If you can picture Munch’s most famous work, “The Scream,” you will have a sense of the riveting tension that underlies the play.

The house was packed on Easter Sunday, as word of the quality of the production has already spread by word of mouth. There are no laughs here, but you will stay on the edge of your seat.

(Performances continue through May 21. For ticket prices and the curtain schedule, call 203/787-4282.)