Henrik Ibsen is well known as the ‘father of modern realism,’ and his
plays are numerous and widely recognised. Known for his outspoken
ideas and attacks on Victorian society, Ibsen was truly a contemporary
theatre practitioner of his age. He remains well-known for the
universal issues covered in his works. John Gabriel Borkman, with
issues such as greed, reputation, business ethics, relationship ethics,
how money is used, and youth versus death is still highly relevant to
today’s society. However, the QTC production of John Gabriel Borkman
seems dreary and dated. Ibsen’s theatre revolution changed theatre to
something that was art and not just entertainment. QTC’s production of
this Ibsen classic, was not even entertaining.
John Gabriel Borkman, directed by Michael Gow, is set sixteen years
after the imprisonment of John Gabriel, who was guilty of laundering
his clients’ money at the bank where he was manager. He lives upstairs
in the house that his sister-in-law and former flame, Ella Rentheim,
provides for his family, while his wife, Gunhild Borkman, lives
downstairs. The married couple do not speak to one another and always
remain on their separate floors. The Borkmans’ son, Erhart, is the
apple of both his birth-mother Gunhild and foster-mother Ella’s eyes,
and is a student who lives in the city. When Ella returns to make her
claim on Erhart, and request that he takes on her name and lives with
her while her mortal disease finally takes hold, Gunhild reveals how
she also plans for Erhart – that he will restore the name of Borkman. Erhart however has other plans; an infatuation with the divorcee
neighbour Mrs. Fanny Wilton and a desire to escape his parents’
manipulations. A melodramatic tragedy that ends in death, disruption
and disgrace, the plot speaks volumes in honour to ones family or to
ones self.
The plot clearly had a large influence on the set design. The extreme
definition of upstairs and downstairs and the effect this had on the
characters’ relationships in the plot was excitingly realised in the
dual level set design that literally displayed an upstairs and
downstairs simultaneously. While this set was at first very powerful,
with the opening scene seeing Gunhild sitting downstairs knitting with
the incessant footsteps echoing from above as John Gabriel paced his
room, it very soon became apparent that the set was not integrated into
the rest of the performance very well. It was built very close to the
edge of the stage, allowing only for a small playing space, and several
support beams were placed throughout that hindered the actors’ ability
to move around the space. At one point, John Gabriel was meant to be
outside and looking up at the stars, but it was uncomfortably obvious
that there was a roof only centimetres above his head.
Later on, a reveal was attempted and the curtains at the back of the
‘rooms’ were pulled down to see through the house and ‘outside’ where
more action was taking place. I appreciated the idea of a reveal to a
different location but the realisation of it didn’t work. Half the
curtains seemed to stay up where they should have come down and what
did pull down left messy strings just hanging there like untangled
vines. And what lay behind the ‘house’ was blank nothingness with what
looked like a few interesting bits of lambs wool and a tree branch. I
don’t like criticizing Jonathon Oxlade who normally creates some
amazing designs, but it honestly seemed like the design was only
half-thought out or they ran out of budget, which either way isn’t good.
The set wasn’t the only downfall of the production. The playing style
of the actors was stagnant and stiff. For much of the piece the actors
stood perfectly still and at great distances from one another while
they spoke dialogue at each other. I suppose this said something about
the way these characters felt uncomfortable with each other and were so
distant from each other but from an audience perspective it only
distanced us further from our enjoyment of the work. For a play by
the Father of Modern realism there didn’t seem to be anything realistic
about the physicality of the actors. The only one who moved in a
naturalistic way was Erhart. His performance had the most credibility
of the whole show and he would have only been onstage for about a fifth
of the entire time.
The whole play seemed to have major issues with conforming to the set
period. Mrs. Wilton appeared onstage in a strapless, silver sparkly
dress and high-heeled peeptoe shoes that were completely from the wrong
era, and at one point the maid brought on stage a battery operated
torch! Understandably perhaps they were trying to create something
that was more relatable to the audience by diverging from the era
somewhat. But when the script refers to being run over by a
horse-drawn carriage, or the revolution of mining gold and ore from the
ground, it is obvious that this piece is meant to be set in the
Victorian era.
Unfortunately I cannot say that I enjoyed this production. It was
long, slow, drawn-out and dull. My partner who witnessed the show with
me, and who has absolutely no theatrical knowledge whatsoever, said
even he knew exactly where the story was going and what was happening after about 20 minutes. There was none of the suspense or drama that
is meant to be played into an Ibsen piece. Instead, it was stale and
weak. I adore Ibsen’s work. But this was one production that I simply
could not like.
Queensland Theatre Company presents John Gabriel Borkman By Henrik Ibsen
English version by May-Brit Akerbolt
Venue: Bille Brown Studio Dates: 26 March - 21 April 2007 Opening Night: 29 March Tickets: $35 - $55. 26 & Under: $26 Bookings:QTix.com.au
The Hypocrite | Melbourne Theatre Company
Outstanding among the actors is Garry McDonald, who blasts on to the stage with a tempestuous energy, sweeping the play along in a torrent of words.
Read more
Henrik Ibsen is well known as the ‘father of modern realism,’ and his
plays are numerous and widely recognised. Known for his outspoken
ideas and attacks on Victorian society, Ibsen was truly a contemporary
theatre practitioner of his age. He remains well-known for the
universal issues covered in his works. John Gabriel Borkman, with
issues such as greed, reputation, business ethics, relationship ethics,
how money is used, and youth versus death is still highly relevant to
today’s society. However, the QTC production of John Gabriel Borkman
seems dreary and dated. Ibsen’s theatre revolution changed theatre to
something that was art and not just entertainment. QTC’s production of
this Ibsen classic, was not even entertaining.
