JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN. To 14 April.
London.
JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN
by Henrik Ibsen new version by David Eldridge.
Donmar Warehouse To 14 April 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 17 March 2.30pm (+Touch Tour 1.30pm).
BSL Signed 15 March 7.30pm.
Captioned 27 March.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 060 6624.
www.donmarwarehouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 February.
Rare outing for a play that’s not one of Ibsen’s lighter moments.
In Ibsen’s stark, black-and-white world divisions run through the Borkman household. Ex-bank-director Borkman had been jailed for embezzlement. Since release he paces an upstairs room he never leaves, while downstairs his wife Gunhild lives on bitterness for the reputation and wealth lost by the husband she will not call by name.
Imprisoned in self-obsessed minds, in Peter McKintosh’s near-featureless, bleak set and in their dark clothing, they are visited by Ella Rentheim, the woman Borkman should have married but surrendered to promote his career.
In this stripped-down, late drama people pay the price for their wrong directions. Despite her emotional warmth, Ella battles with Gunhild for possession of Borkman’s son Erhart in late-life illusion that the next generation exists to comfort or fight their elders’ battles. Erhart’s escape (with a moment anticipating a later generational play Look Back in Anger) is the one optimistic feature in this landscape – though not for those he leaves behind.
Borkman is an idealist, his crime coming from desire to make a new kingdom of wealth for everyone, releasing the richness of the country’s mineral stock. And this is similarly a rich, if gruelling drama of self-obsession. Michael Grandage’s production catches this fitfully – in Penelope Wilton’s outburst to Borkman about his crime against her heart, in the beautifully bleak conclusion in the cold, white snow (the still, final image could be out of Samuel Beckett).
Elsewhere there are fine moments: the silent conflict between Gunhild and Ella, the oldsters lined up in amazement as Erhart introduces Mrs Wilton and his escape-plan, or the two women overlapping each other in argument. But this revival fails at the dramatic climaxes. Ian McDiarmid has Borkman’s rage but it trips over into comic rant that undermines the character’s monstrous self-obsession and idealism.
Much of the peripheral playing is vocally too stiff, though not Daivd Burke’s excellent Foldal, a picture of a small but decent life wasted by illusion. Among the major players, only Penelope Wilton’s heart-rendered Ella catches the play’s remorseless heart fully and consistently. The rarely-seen play itself and her performance are the two things distinguishing this revival.
Mrs Gunhild Borkman: Deborah Findlay.
Malene: Emma Beattie.
Miss Ella Rentheim: Penelope Wilton.
Mrs Fanny Wilton: Lolita Chakrabarti.
Erhart Borkman: Rafe Spall.
John Gabriel Borkman: Ian McDiarmid.
Frida Foldal: Lisa Diveney.
Vilhelm Foldal: David Burke.
Director: Michael Grandage.
Designer: Peter McKintosh.
Lighting: Neil Austin.
Sound/Composer: Adam Cork.
Assistant director: Alex Sims.
2007-02-25 12:23:07