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.