A Bad Banker and a Blizzard at BAM

It is hard to imagine a more timely play than Henrik Ibsen’s “,” which chronicles a particularly dramatic day in the life of a disgraced banker during a brutal blizzard.

The Norweigan playwright’s penultimate work is being performed at the , and though many of its themes — namely, the consequences of a Madoff-esque lust for power — seem as relevant as when they were first performed in 1896, “Borkman” shows its age in the most critical moments, which come across as way over the top.

Rather, it is the more casual conversations among the play’s all-star cast that audiences will find most memorable.

The titular character is played by Alan Rickman, whose command of the stage is rivaled only by Fiona Shaw, who plays the banker’s disgraced wife, Gunhild.

Borkman, fresh out of jail, paces back and forth in his room like a caged lion, plotting his next move though he is doomed to a life of ignominy. Meanwhile, downstairs Gunhild plots her own road to redemption, though the anxiety etched in her face portends a similar fate.

Enter Ella Rentheim, played by an icy Lindsay Duncan, the twin-sister of Gunhild and a former flame of Borkman.

Both women struggle to cope with Borkman’s reprehensible greed, yet fight with each other for control over him and his son.

The casual exchanges that convey the characters’ shared history are the most compelling. Borkman’s bottomless greed and his wife’s hopeless obsession with her reputation draw regular laughs from the audience — they’ve all seen it before in the headlines.

Still, when the drama reaches its crescendo, Gunhild’s hysterics and Rentheim’s angst evokes a turn of the century view of women that detracts from the otherwise timeless themes in the play.

But “Borkman” has many riveting moments, just the same. When the trio venture into a blizzard the stage is blasted with snow, creating a stunning scene that might bring flashbacks of December 26.

Ultimately, it’s the way Ibsen’s work echoes through to modern times that make this play worth seeing. You may even find the tragic ending somewhat comforting —actual consequences for grand-scale financial misdeeds are apparently something more appropriate for the stage than real life.

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