Love and Obligation: Creditors at the Orange Tree Theatre

In August Strindberg’s Creditors, debt sits at the heart of the twisted relationships at play between a husband, wife and the man who has come to ruin them. Adapted by Howard Brenton for the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, Creditors reunites Charles Dance, Geraldine James and Nicholas Farrell over 40 years since their last joint project, internationally recognised drama series The Jewel in the Crown. For Dance and James, the reunion is perhaps most touching as they once again take on the role of lovers with an ease that belies decades of history.

Written and set in 1888, Strindberg’s play brings together a trio of mostly unlikeable people at a waterside hotel. Nicholas Farrell takes on the role of Adolf, who suspects his wife Tekla, played by James, of being unfaithful. Under the direction of Dance’s Gustaf, and in the absence of his wife, Adolf is — in his own words — “cut open”. Through well-worn generalisations on the nature of women as untrustworthy and spiteful creatures who cannot be trusted, Gustaf surgically picks apart the threads holding Adolf together. He is made to doubt his artistic work, turning from a painter to a sculptor on Gustaf’s direction; he doubts his wife’s faithfulness; and he begins to doubt his own mind, put under the spell of his new friend. It will not come as a shock, then, that Strindberg was in the midst of his own — narratively similar — marital conflict when writing Creditors.

The Orange Tree Theatre is uniquely set up for this kind of domestic drama, much of the audience being seated within reaching distance of the cast. The minimalist set allows for easy movement, seating arranged in the round just as the audience are, the intimacy of the theatre emphasising each beat of dialogue. Bright lights, scenes inspired by Strindberg’s paintings and a soundtrack set the audience firmly next to a churning sea. At its centre is a faceless statue of Tekla, a fitting stand-in for a woman so thoroughly stereotyped by the men around her who is revealed and concealed throughout the play.

Dance plays the part of a charming disrupter with his usual flair, his now-trademark grandiose self-assurance and easy humour prompting sprinkles of laughter from the start. Farrell seems similarly at ease, matching his friend’s authority with a lighter, hesitating air. Even when we learn Farrell and Tekla abandoned a child because of a supposedly uncanny likeness to her ex-husband, Adolf remains pitiable in his undoing.

Through their misogynistic tennis match, the pair build a case of scorn against Tekla. With Gustaf’s encouragement, Adolf prepares to condemn his wife for her suspected affairs and for leaching Adolf’s own strength and talents away from him. Gustaf disappears to an adjoining room, and the audience is left to await Tekla’s arrival. It’s a surprise, then, when James enters in buttercup silk, a playful swish to her skirt and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Is this the woman who jointly gave away a child, who ran away from her ex-husband with Adolf and is now meant to be at the root of his misery? While Adolf’s case against Tekla, from the start, is too hyperbolic to be taken seriously, her surprising softness in smoothing her husband’s head and her open flirtation with him is still likely to catch the audience by surprise. 

James brings a vivid energy and youthfulness in her performance, a flirtatiousness that extends to the world and all its opportunities, accompanied by a firmer love which seems to belong only to her husband. But it’s a slow journey to realising how deep that commitment runs. When Adolf departs after their heated confrontation, Gustaf joins Tekla on the main stage. Here his deception is revealed and, without giving away the twist, he endeavours to seduce Tekla. She soon agrees to a night of passion before they part ways.

What follows, without spoiling the ending, is a harsh collection of debt. But whether these three creditors are owed what they search for — commitment, freedom or even revenge — is up to the audience to decide.

Creditors at The Orange Tree Theatre runs until 11 October.

It is currently sold out but further standing tickets are released each Friday here.