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ottisdotter announces John Gabriel Borkman at The Bear Pit Theatre

Henrik Ibsen’s late masterpiece, reimagined for 2026, comes to Stratford-upon-Avon in May 2027

ottisdotter is delighted to announce a new contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman, running at The Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Wednesday 5 to Saturday 8 May 2027.

Adapted by Mark Ewbank after Ibsen, the production moves the play from the 1890s to the present day.

Somewhere above the drawing room, someone is pacing. He has been for years. There was a time when the whole town knew his name. Now it’s a name nobody in the house will say aloud. Below him, two women bound by blood and by one old wound go on fighting over the only thing left worth having: the future.

John Gabriel Borkman is a play about what ambition costs, and who ends up paying. It’s about the stories we tell to survive our own failures, and the people we ask to believe them. It’s about love that curdles into possession, and a young person trying to break free of a legacy they never chose.

Ibsen wrote it in 1896, near the end of his career. Reimagined for 2026, it asks questions that have not gone away: what do we owe the people we love, and what happens when the story our lives were built on turns out to be a lie?

A note from the director “We all keep a wolf behind the wallpaper; Borkman is what happens when you stop pretending you can’t hear it.” Dr Mark Ewbank, Director and Artistic Director, ottisdotter

Development: The adaptation is being developed through a workshop at Leamington Spa on Sunday 15 November 2026, where the text will be read and discussed with a group of actors ahead of rehearsals. Contact below for more details.

Performance details

Production: John Gabriel Borkman, adapted by Mark Ewbank after Henrik Ibsen
Venue: The Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Dates: Wednesday 5 to Saturday 8 May 2027
Booking: https://www.thebearpit.org.uk/whats-on/
Cast and creative team: to be announced