ONE man's lust for power and success proves the downfall for him and his family in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman performed by the English Touring Theatre.

The play looks into the lives of three characters in the winter of their lives, confronting each other for the first time in eight years and exploring events that turned them sour, loveless and isolated.

So desperate for love are they that Borkman, his separated wife and his first love, who is also his wife's twin sister, vie desperately for the loyalty of the Borkman's son, Erhart.

Erhart, of course, has his own life to live and, with the help of a rich and attractive divorced woman, flees the threesome, leaving them to live out their own bitter ends. Left to their own devices, the three are forced to turn to each other for reconciliation.

The play is a fantastic exploration of how a wrong turning in life can have disastrous consequences. But even on death's door, after 20 years of misery, Borkman shows the inevitability of his fate by being unable to release his burning ambition for power.

The three principal players, Gillian Barge, Ella Rentheim and Michael Pennington, are fantastic in their roles, being both endearingly human and stupidly proud. The women are particularly strong, with Barge demonstrating prickly austerity that has locked the outside world away because of a sense of public shame.

Rentheim, as Ella, lets the audience see both a once youthful passion and a steely strength that brings the action to a satisfactory conclusion.

The production is highly recommended for viewing and continues until tomorrow (Saturday).

Ally Hardy