First night: 1. Cathy & Pat Kenny; 2. Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman & Lindsay Duncan; 3. John Kavanagh and his daughter Rachel. (Pix. Kieran Harnett)
The opening night of John Gabriel Borkman at the Abbey Theatre took place recently. The title of the play comes from the central character; John Gabriel Borkman was once a great man. Wealthy, powerful, revered. He gave up love for success and was handsomely rewarded.
But now, disgraced and destitute after a financial scandal and jail, the former director of the bank paces out each day, alone in an upstairs room, planning his comeback. Art imitating life, surely.
Downstairs his wife Gunhild lives a parallel life, plotting for their son to restore the family’s reputation. The claustrophobia of their lives is shattered once and for all with the arrival of Gunhild’s twin sister Ella, the woman whose love Borkman gave away…
The play, adapted by Frank McGuinness and starring Alan Rickman, has received rave reviews and runs at the Abbey Theatre until the 20th of November.
