They are hamstrung, however, by a script that pulls them in the direction of theme and away from consistent characters with common sense.
But both are ill-served by a script that clunks and baffles and an often shaky pair of hands at the helm.
But Mr. Barrett, as George, is hamstrung by a script that forces him out of character too often, and Crystal Finn is not convincing as either Hedda or Emma.
But even this heavy-handed metaphor is given short shrift by a script (by Antoine O'Flatharta, adapting Michael Doorley's novel) that skirts caricature but also avoids getting its feet wet in the swamp of Father Barry's pridefulness.
Her first feature, "Red Road," was a tour de force of psychological insight slightly undermined by a script that relied a bit too much on late reversals and surprises.
She has been badly directed, and she is ill-served by a script that seeks less to unravel Hedda's ultimate tragedy than to explore Upton's ideas about naturalism in the theatre.
That said, Ms. Zellweger is fine as the decent, well-meaning Emily, her little-girl's voice kept in check by a script that doesn't encourage her to lose her head every five minutes.
Adam Godley captures the whinnying exuberance and nasal hauteur of Williams perfectly, aided by a script that teems with caustic comments and the kind of fifth-rate double entendres the wag couldn't resist.
Philip Glenister, in From There to Here, a three-strand drama about the 1996 Manchester bomb, was wonderfully well served by a script from Peter Bowker which caught all the anger, the humour, the frustration, of mid-90s Madchester.
