Theater

Greed is good, according to Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman-until it sends him to prison for embezzlement and leaves him ruined, disgraced, and desperate for a comeback. Three outstanding actors-Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman, and Fiona Shaw-join a wonderful ensemble from Ireland's acclaimed Abbey Theatre to tell this timely tale of one man's undoing in the wake of relentless deception and fraud.

As portrayed by two-time Tony Award nominee Rickman (director: Creditors, 2010 Spring Season; actor: Private Lives, Broadway; Harry Potter films), Borkman is a man obsessed with reinvention. He schemes in isolation while his estranged wife, played by Shaw (Happy Days, 2008 Spring Season; Medea, 2002 Next Wave), plots the restoration of the family name. Staged by James Macdonald (Top Girls, Broadway; Dying City, Lincoln Center Theater), Ibsen's mordant drama is triggered by the unannounced arrival-and stunning request-of Borkman's lover, portrayed by Tony Award winner Duncan (Private Lives, Broadway), whom he abandoned to secure the power that will forever elude his grasp.