Creditors

by August Strindberg adapted by Howard Brenton

seen at the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond on 16 September 2025

Tom Littler directs Charles Dance as Gustaf, Geraldine James as Tekla and Nicholas Farrell as Adolf in Strindberg's 1889 acute psychological drama about a strained marriage (Tekla's and Adolf's) and the disruptive influence of a third party.

In a set of aseptic creams and blues designed by Louie Whitemore representing a hotel at a Swedish sea-side resort Gustaf has befriended Adolf and persuaded him to shift from painting to sculpture to revive his flagging inspiration. Despite a short friendship - barely more than a week - they start to discuss Adolf's marriage. Gustaf's probing and apparently authoritative manner soon expose Adolf's insecurities while none-too-subtly denigrating the absent Tekla. Since Tekla had left her first husband to take up with Adolf there is fertile ground for undermining Adolf's confidence in her current fidelity. Clearly a man so easily persuaded to change the medium of his artistic expression is also suggestible in other areas of his life.

On Tekla's return Gustaf retreats to a room from where he can eavesdrop while husband and wife confront one another, moving rapidly from kittenish playfulness to lacerating criticism, and finally, in a surprising twist, Gustaf and Tekla cross swords. The play therefore is a series of dialogues; apart from a final brief tableau there are only ever two characters on stage at a time, and the intense encounters are thus tightly wound, sometimes resembling (to modern eyes and ears) informal therapy sessions made unhealthy by the ulterior motives of the participants.

One can see here the precursor to the styles and preoccupations of many subsequent dramatists: the veiled threat of insinuation so expertly wielded by Pinter; the backstory of long-simmering tensions precipitating a crisis often used by Eugene O'Neill; the unexpected twist forcing a late re-evaluation beloved by Edward Albee; even the barbs underlying social niceties which give some of Noel Coward's plays their unexpected bite amidst uneasy humour. In the hands of these three masterful actors the dynamics fizz and the acuity of Strindberg's dissection of an unsatisfactory marriage is brilliantly explored.

The drawcard of this particular cast - apart from their obvious expertise and long theatrical experience - is that the three actors have not been seen together since they appeared in the famed TV series The Jewel in the Crown more than forty years ago. However, such an extraneous frisson pales into insignificance once the performance starts: we are simply witnesses to an incisive theatrical experience.

Juniper Blood

by Mike Bartlett

seen at the Donmar Warehouse on 11 September 2025

James Macdonald directs Hattie Morahan as Ruth, Sam Troughton as her partner Lip, Nadia Parkes as her "ex-step-daughter" Millie, Terique Jarrett as her partner Femi and Jonathan Slinger as the neighbouring farmer Tony in Mike Bartlett's new play Juniper Blood.

Ruth and Lip are trying to live a sustainable life on Lip's family farm, which Ruth has clearly saved from being sold or broken up - Lip, something of an unworldly idealist, was clearly unable to manage on his own. Millie and Femi, visiting from the city, provide skewering generational and urban/rural barbs which indicate that Ruth is not necessarily a saintly figure, while Tony in turn satirises the eco-pastoralist ideals Ruth and Lip embody, while dealing with his own profoundly distressing recent widowhood.

The play, designed by ULTZ, is set out of doors - the program contains a long essay on the significance of farm settings in plays. There is a grassy field (real grass: how is it kept flourishing?) and sharp daylight turning to dusk at the end of the first act. The tensions and discussions are, it is claimed, inflected rather differently when set outside, rather than (for. example) in a farmhouse kitchen such as would more normally suit a theatre.

There is plenty of scope for tension as the characters reveal their priorities and prejudices. Is sustainable farming economically possible? Is idealism viable at any cost? Can simmering cross-purposes be resolved or will the antagonisms just get worse? These are big issues at both the personal and the societal level, and the play attempts to embrace them all.

While the setting is arresting and the actors excellent, the play itself constantly runs the risk of being too wordy and preachy, raising important issues at the expense of dramatic credibility and narrative drive. The painful dynamic between Ruth and Millie is hilarious and toe-curling at once, but after the first act it recedes into the background, receiving only a slight flicker of interest towards the end. Likewise Tony's interaction with Ruth, prominent in the second act, once having served its turn, receives no further attention. Meanwhile in the third act there is an astonishing disquisition by Femi on the nexus and ultimate triumph of capitalism which is more of a lecture than anything else: only exceptional skill can bring this sort of thing off without intensely irritating an audience (Terique Jarrett succeeds in this).

Sociasl satire, family drama, echoes of Chekhov - even trees being bulldozed, let alone the personal dynamics - and state-of-the-world polemics make for a heady but not entirely successful blend: fascinating to watch in such a well-conceived and acted production, and yet not completely convincing.

Top Hat

by Irving Berlin

seen at the Chichester Festival Theatre on 23 August 2025

RKO's 1935 film Top Hat has been adapted for the stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques, and is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Jerry Travers (the part taken by Fred Astaire in the film) is played by Phillip Attmore and Dale Tremont (taken by Ginger Rogers) by Lucy St. Louis, with Horace Hardwick played by Clive Carter and Madge Hardwick by Sally Ann Triplett, together with a large supporting cast.

The play is essentially a farce generated by prolonged mistaken identities and misunderstandings, interspersed with now-famous songs and dazzling tap routines. To some extent the musical numbers slow down the farce (problematic since the genre depends on fast action to disguise the improbabilities) while the ludicrous situations surround classic songs and dances with unrelated froth, but the resulting confection is very entertaining and the comic energy gathers pace, especially in the second half.

Transferring a film, in which it is easy to move from place to place with a camera fade, to the stage can be a perilous affair, but the set designer Peter McKintosh has solved the problems on the Chichester's thrust stage with a glitzy all-purpose Art Deco backdrop, the clever use of a revolve, and adroit placements of furniture by a bevy of assorted hotel staff. Even the quick shifts from one bedroom suite to another, required in both the London and the Venetian settings, are managed with flair, while a series of benches or balustrades rise from the revolving floor when required for hotel lobbies or bandstands.

The leading couple perhaps inevitably lack the extraordinary chemistry of their film originals, but nonetheless play off each other engagingly and prove sterling dancers in both duets and ensemble numbers. On the exposed circle of the stage, with the outermost area lower than the centre, the sheer skill of co-ordinated tap dancing is shown off to exhilarating effect; since the style is now not so often seen it is salutary to be reminded how accomplished the cast must be to deliver the routines without mishap.

All in all, a good evening's entertainment. 

Girl from the North Country

by Conor McPherson, songs by Bob Dylan

seen at the Old Vic on 20 August 2025

This is a revival of the Old Vic's 2017 production with a new cast, providing a welcome opportunity to see the piece again.

See my review from 6 September 2017 for details of the production. 

What I noticed particularly on this viewing was how melancholy the narrative arc was. Unusually for a musical, no applause was offered by the utterly engaged audience for any of the songs, allowing for a completely unbroken span of attention throughout the performance, and preserving the atmosphere of increasing desperation without distraction. This was by no means because the audience was dissatisfied, as the enthusiastic applause at the end demonstrated, but somehow a sense prevailed that interim applause would break the spell.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

seen at  the Bridge Theatre on 19 August 2025

This is a revival of Nicholas Hytner's hugely successful 2019 production of the play, with a new cast except for Puck, inimitably played by David Moorst: it is hard to imagine anyone else bringing his skills as an actor and acrobat to this interpretation of the part.

Even on a second viewing the production was well worth seeing, the modern interpolations as funny as before, and the stagecraft marvellous to behold. Though it may be suspected that the Bridge is 'marking time', having hugely extended its run of Guys and Dolls and then revived a past production, the move must be justified financially and the standards have by no means slipped.

See my review from 17 August 2019 for more details of how the play was conceived.