John Gabriel Borkman, wealthy, powerful, revered, sacrificed love for success and was handsomely rewarded. Now, disgraced and destitute after financial scandal and a jail sentence, he paces out each day alone, planning his comeback. Downstairs, his wife, Gunhild, lives a parallel existence, plotting for their son to restore the family's reputation. But with the arrival of Gunhild's twin sister Ella, the woman whose love Borkman gave away, the claustrophobic stasis is shattered once and for all.

Frank McGuinness's new version of Henrik Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman premiered at the Abbey Theatre in September 2010 as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival.