Siân Phillips she was the first since Sarah Bernhardt to play the role. In 1957 (some sources say 1959) Phillips performed the title role in Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler". Many sources consider this her London stage debut but she actually did "Magda" before "Hedda Gabler". In September 1958 she was performing as Margaret Muir in John Hall's "The Holiday" at Oxford New Theatre. In May 1958 Phillips performed as Joan in G. B. Shaw's "Saint Joan", at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, which had opened just six weeks before, produced by Bryan Bailey. An observer described her performance: "Sian Phillips' portrayal of Joan
Hedda Gabler This". John Cale, Welsh musician and founder of American rock band The Velvet Underground, recorded a song "Hedda Gabler" in 1976, included originally on the 1977 EP "Animal Justice" (now a bonus track on the CD of the album "Sabotage"). He performed the song live in 1998, with Siouxsie Sioux, and also in London (5 March 2010) with a band and a 19 piece orchestra in his Paris 1919 tour. The song was covered by the British neofolk band Sol Invictus for the 1995 compilation "Im Blutfeuer" (Cthulhu Records) and later included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue