Strindberg’s grim meditation on the human condition is wrenching, thought-provoking theatre. Any laughter elicited during its excruciating laying bare of the toxic relationship between the soldier Edgar and his wife, Alice, is more likely a sign of discomfort or the uneasy recognition of home truths than a response born of amusement. The cruel repartee and vicious games which the couple play, and through which they drag the audience’s stand-in, the innocent bystander Kurt, are mesmerising. Equally hypnotic are the deeply layered performances of Will Keen and Lisa Dillon as the combative couple. They hold us in their thrall from the outset and generate an atmosphere electric with tension. The intimate space of the Orange Tree Theatre allows us to register every nuance of the characters’ emotions, and once they have us in their grip, Keen and Dillon never loosen that tension. Both performers are utterly present, and no matter how much the audience may try to resist the emotional torment and discomfort this relationship draws us into, we cannot. Like the well-meaning Kurt, faultlessly played by Geoffrey Streatfield, we are pulled into this drama. The audience finds itself lost in the mean-spirited chaos of the characters’ lives and is left with the troubling implication that this may be the bleak reality of human existence. Strindberg’s masterpiece comes powerfully to life in this first-rate production, yet one may leave thinking that, after an evening with Alice and Edgar, dinner with Edward Albee’s George and Martha from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? could seem a palatable alternative.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Nobby Clark
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