Review: Creditors (Orange Tree Theatre)

Review by Stephen Gilchrist

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

It was not only a pleasure, but a privilege to visit the delightfully compact Orange Tree Theatre, which I had not looked in on since the might Sam Walters was artistic director. (My bad!) Why do I say a privilege? Well, it was because what the audience saw was a starry acting masterclass by three of our most distinguished actors, Charles Dance, Nicholas Farrell, and Geraldine James in a compelling adaptation by Howard Brenton, of Strindberg’s Creditors.

Seeing the 1888 play in this adaptation (which derives from 2019) was to discover the genesis of Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf and to look back to Shakespeare’s brilliant characterisation of Othello’s Iago. This play was apparently inspired by August Strinberg’s stay with his wife, Siri, at a dilapidated Royal Hunting Palace in Copenhagen where deceit upon deceit was practiced upon them by the owner who purported to be a countess, and members of her family who pretended to be a butler and a housemaid.

The ‘butler’ Hansen was the ‘countess’s’ illegitimate brother. He apparently tried to manipulate Strindberg by exercising mental control over him by giving a hocus pocus of hypnotism. And so, Strindberg, much in the way John Cleese was prompted to write Fawlty Towers after a visit to a hotel in Torquay where he encountered the eccentric, stuffy and snobbish owner (no names, no pack drill!), decided to write a fictional version of his own experience. Strindberg’s stormy relationship with his unfaithful wife provides further inspiration.

With that, Strindberg set about writing this so called ‘tragicomedy’ in which, in this adaptation, a trio of characters, a husband (Adolf - Farrell), a wife (Tekla - James) and an unsettler (Gustaf - Dance) confront and tear bits out of each other at a waterside hotel in Sweden. The characters purport to be ‘free thinkers’, unbound by convention, but the unravelling of their relationships reveals the truth.

Adolf and Gustaf have become friends over the past seven days, Adolf awaiting the return of Tekla (a successful novelist) from a charitable endeavour on the mainland. Gustaf, for reasons which will be discovered later in the play, seems to have brainwashed Adolf, a painter, persuading him (by pouring metaphorical Iago-like poison into his ear) that his wife is unfaithful, that he is weak, that he is through with painting and should concentrate on sculpture, and should confront his partner with her suggested deficiencies. Tekla returns amid recriminations and, well… let us just say it does not end well.

The play is performed in the round with a delightful set inspired by Gustaf’s description of Adolf’s work as having colour schemes of ‘watery blue, pale, thin...’  which designer Louise Whitmore reflects in her choice of ‘Ombré’ furniture and costuming – a gradual blending of one colour hue to another, typically from light to dark, or vice versa.  The design quite wonderfully reflects, in this small space, the ambience of a seaside hotel, whist not distracting from the focus of the drama.

In Tom Littler’s elegant direction each actor produces an age-blind performance of power, drama, pathos and tragedy. I repeat, it was a privilege to see, close up, these wonderful veteran stage actors, give authentic and articulate readings of the play. I loved all the performances but was particularly impressed by Farrell, who always delivers, and who I last saw making the most of a rather unrewarding part in The Deep Blue Sea. Here he was, at once, touching and comically pathetic. James’ performance is both strong and delicate, and sensitively nuanced, while Dance is a devilishly smooth Machiavellian schemer and manipulator.

As I say, this adaptation of Creditors is an absolute masterclass in theatrical performance, and a privilege to have seen. This what theatre is all about.

Creditors plays at the Orange Tree Theatre until October 11^th

For tickets and information visit https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/creditors/

Tickets are currently sold out for Creditors, but a select number of standing tickets are released online each Friday. Any newly available seated tickets will be available to book online.

Photos by Ellie Kurttz