Ibsen's 'Borkman' Comes to BAM

 is opening up the 2011 season with a bang, staging a performance of Henrik Ibsen’s penultimate work, “John Gabriel Borkman,” starring Alan Rickman.

The play, opening on Friday, chronicles a power-hungry banker’s relentless drive to achieve success after a sharp fall from grace — a tale that resonates today just as much as it did when it was written in 1896.

Rickman plays the avaricious titular character, whose ambition ends up fraying his already-strained relationship with his wife, Gunhild, played by Fiona Shaw.

Borkman, who has just served a prison sentence for embezzlement, finds upon returning home that he remains a prisoner of his tarnished reputation.

Meanwhile, his desperate wife concocts her own plan to restore the Borkman name.

Throw in Gunhild’s twin sister, with whom Borkman once had a relationship, and the wheels are set in motion for the play’s darkly comic and tragic conclusion.

The Abbey Theater — the national theater of Ireland — is putting on the show, and was last at  in 2002 for the critically acclaimed “Medea,” which went on to have a Tony-nominated run on Broadway.

Critics and theater-lovers alike are eagerly anticipating the star-studded production, which should resonate with audiences living through the the economic recession.

“John Gabriel Borkman” at the BAM Harvey runs Jan. 7-Feb. 6. Tickets are $25-$95.