The Borkman family's fortunes have been drained following the imprisonment of former banker John Gabriel Borkman. After eight years behind bars and another eight years in solitude, Borkman obsessively dreams of making his comeback.
Meanwhile, his wife, Gunhild, insists on restoring the family name. When her sister, Ella, arrives unannounced, the three engage in a fierce battle over young Erhart Borkman, driven by their own obsessions.
The story comes from Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's penultimate work, "John Gabriel Borkman," which will be staged in Seoul by the Seoul Metropolitan Theatre as "John."
Ibsen expert Kim Myi-he, a professor emeritus at Hanyang University, participated in the work's dramaturgy. Kim dedicated over 15 years to translating Ibsen's 10-volume complete works, a project that was begun in 2007. In recognition of her contributions, she was appointed commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald V of Norway in 2023.
The theater's artistic director Koh Sun-woong said he was deeply moved upon reading Kim's translation of the play, prompting him to choose Ibsen’s work for the first time. Koh is a prolific and celebrated director with a career spanning over 20 years in the theater, "changgeuk," the opera and as a scriptwriter.
“In the final act, there is a scene where Erhart leaves, and John simply traverses an endlessly winding path up a mountain. Reading that scene, there was an emotion that couldn’t be contained within me. I felt the need to share it with others,” said Koh during a recent press conference.
Koh admitted that selecting "John" for the spring season posed some challenges, given the play's seriousness and weight.
“(But) I thought it would be nice for the audience to experience a completely different and lively atmosphere (from the play) when they leave the theater.”
Kim said, "Although the play was written 150 years ago, the story contains relevant events and themes that resonate with our current time. It's a highly impactful work, brimming with metaphors that vividly represent life within the dialogue."
She explained that Ibsen titled his works after a character only when the character held significant power within the narrative. The same goes for John, Kim noted.
“Ibsen was a master of realism, so he wrote very lengthy and dense works,” said Kim. “However, modern audiences tend to prefer shorter plays. … So I advised Koh to trim the play and fill in any gaps accordingly.”
“John” runs until April 21 at the Seoul Sejong M Theater.
