Duncan, Rickman & Shaw Lead Abbey's 'BORKMAN' at BAM, 1/7-2/6

BAM Presents John Gabriel BORKMAN by Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Frank McGuinness.  This production comes from The Abbey Theatre, Ireland and is directed by James MacDonald with set design by Tom Pye, costume design by Joan Bergin, lighting design by Jean Kalman, and sound design by Ian Dickinson

The production will take place at the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St) from Jan 7-Feb 6. Tickets start at $25 (and at $35 for Saturday night & Sunday matinee performances).

Written in 1896, John Gabriel BORKMAN is Henrik Ibsen's penultimate work. Well over a century later, its central preoccupation with financial greed and subsequent ruin strikes an all too contemporary chord. Three of the theater world's leading luminaries-Tony Award winner Lindsay Duncan (PRIVATE LIVES), two-time Tony Award nominee Alan Rickman (actor: PRIVATE LIVES; director: CREDITORS, 2010 Spring Season), and Tony Award nominee Fiona Shaw (MEADEA, 2002 Next Wave; Happy Days, 2008 Spring Season)-join their considerable Dramatic Forces in a new version of the play by awardwinning Irish poet and playwright Frank McGuinness. James MacDonald, critically acclaimed for his searing productions of modern playwrights such as Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane, directs.

John Gabriel Borkman had its world premiere in October 2010 at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The complete cast includes Cathy Belton, John Kavanagh, Amy Molloy, Marty Rea, and Joan Sheehy. Former bank manager John Gabriel Borkman (Rickman) emerges from prison forembezzlement, destitute and desperate for a comeback. As he paces and plots alone in his upstairs room for eight years, his long-suffering wife Gunhild (Shaw) concocts her own plans to restore the family's reputation. Into this feverishly claustrophobic environment enters Gunhild's twin sister Ella (Duncan), Borkman's former love whom he abandoned to secure the power that ultimately destroyed him. Her unannounced arrival and unsettling request propels this devastating and darkly comic play to its shattering and surprising conclusion.

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