John Gabriel Borkman (NHB Classic Plays) E-Book

Henrik Ibsen

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

John Gabriel Borkman, once an illustrious entrepreneur, has been brought low by a prison sentence for fraud. As he paces alone in an upstairs room, bankrupt and disgraced, he is obsessed by dreams of his comeback. Downstairs, his estranged wife plots the restoration of the family name. When her sister arrives unannounced, she triggers a desperate showdown with the past. Henrik Ibsen's most contemporary play and his penultimate, John Gabriel Borkman is gripping, penetrating and savagely funny. This version by Lucinda Coxon premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in September 2022, directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a cast led by Clare Higgins, Simon Russell Beale and Lia Williams.

Leseprobe

Henrik Ibsen

JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN

in a new version by

Lucinda Coxon

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Dedication

Characters

John Gabriel Borkman

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This version of John Gabriel Borkman was first performed at the Bridge Theatre, London, on 24 September 2022. The cast (in order of speaking) was as follows:

GUNHILD BORKMAN

Clare Higgins

ELLA RENTHEIM

Lia Williams

FANNY WILTON

Ony Uhiara

ERHART BORKMAN

Sebastian De Souza

JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN

Simon Russell Beale

FRIDA FOLDAL

Daisy Ou

VILHELM FOLDAL

Michael Simkins

UNDERSTUDIES

JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN/VILHELM FOLDAL

Nick Barclay

ERHART BORKMAN

James Coutsavlis

GUNHILD BORKMAN

Hilary Derrett

FRIDA FOLDAL

Antonia Huang

ELLA RENTHEIM/FANNY WILTON

Catharine Humphrys

Director

Nicholas Hytner

Set Designer

Anna Fleischle

Costume Designer & Associate Set Designer

Liam Bunster

Lighting Designer

James Farncombe

Sound Designer

Gareth Fry

Casting Director

Robert Sterne

Associate Director

Isabel Marr

Costume Supervisor

Olivia Ward

Props Supervisor

Lily Mollgaard

Production Manager

Kate West

For my mother, Sheila

Characters

JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN, a former bank CEO GUNHILD BORKMAN, his wife ERHART BORKMAN, their son, a student ELLA RENTHEIM, Mrs Borkman’s sister FANNY WILTON, a neighbour VILHELM FOLDAL, a former colleague at the bank FRIDA FOLDAL, his daughter

The action takes place over a single winter evening at the Borkmans’ house, in a wealthy suburb on the outskirts of Oslo.

The house itself is an impressive Modernist concrete construction, but the interior is faded, cheaply and sparsely furnished now.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

The sitting room. GUNHILD BORKMAN sits on the sofa watching Norwegian daytime television. A few mismatched electric heaters warm the space around her.

Offstage, a jangling sound, the crump of tyres on snow and the passing beam of a car’s headlights glimpsed through a window.

GUNHILD. Erhart! Finally…

GUNHILD turns off the television, hurries to look out. But she sees someone unexpected. She backs away from the window. Waits.

ELLA RENTHEIM enters the room. The sisters stand motionless, scrutinising one another.

ELLA. Yes, you must be surprised to see me, Gunhild.

GUNHILD. I’m sorry, I think you’ve taken a wrong turn, arrived at the wrong address.

ELLA. Not at all.

GUNHILD. So, you actually meant to come here?

ELLA. There’s something we need to discuss.

GUNHILD. Well then. You’d better sit down.

GUNHILD gestures –

ELLA. Thank you, I’m fine standing.

GUNHILD. Have it your own way. You might at least unbutton your coat.

ELLA. Yes, it is hot in here.

GUNHILD. I’m cold – all the time.

ELLA unbuttons her coat.

ELLA. Well. It’s been quite a while since we saw one another.

GUNHILD. Eight years.

ELLA. That’s right.

GUNHILD. Right here, in this room. It was the week before he was… released.

ELLA. I know when it was, Gunhild.

GUNHILD. The great banker… set free.

ELLA. Yes. I’d hardly forgotten… I just try not to dwell on it. Even now, thinking about it all leaves me… very low.

GUNHILD. But how can one think about anything else? I mean, I can’t stop. It beggars belief. That something so appalling could happen to anyone. But that it should happen to us?

ELLA. Plenty of people beyond our family were ruined by what happened.

GUNHILD. I couldn’t care less about them. For people like that, it’s just money. But for me… And for Erhart? He was only a child… To be burdened with the shame of it. Then left bankrupt into the bargain.

ELLA. How is he bearing it?

GUNHILD. Erhart?

ELLA. No – him. How is he bearing it?

GUNHILD. How should I know?

ELLA. You must have some impression…