Richard Eyre's Dance of Death: A Harrowing Masterpiece at Orange Tree Theatre
Veteran director Richard Eyre presents a superb and harrowingly funny adaptation of August Strindberg's classic drama The Dance of Death at Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre. This intimate in-the-round venue provides the perfect setting for a production that delves deep into marital misery with biting humour and psychological intensity.
A Savage Study in Marital Misery
Alice, portrayed by Lisa Dillon, and Edgar, played by Will Keen, have been trapped together for nearly twenty-five years on a remote military outpost off the coast of Sweden. Their existence is one of mutual loathing and dependency, surrounded by neighbours they despise and servants who have abandoned them. The arrival of Kurt, played by Geoffrey Streatfeild, on a stormy night introduces a potential catalyst for change, but instead becomes the enabler for more sadistic psychological games.
Eyre's adaptation cleverly updates the action to the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919, providing historical context for the pervasive nihilism that permeates the drama. The production runs from 9th February to 7th March 2026, with tickets priced between £15 and £59 for performances lasting approximately two hours.
Tour de Force Performances
Will Keen delivers an extraordinary performance as Edgar, creating a character who is simultaneously tyrannical and pitiable. His physical embodiment of the role – from facial spasms to stiff jerks – evolves throughout the production from mere irascibility to something resembling PTSD or impending cardiac arrest. Keen portrays Edgar as the ruin of a strong man, whose fear of death and existential pointlessness make him both monstrous and tragically human.
Lisa Dillon brings a feline quality to Alice, a former actress who alternates between shrinking from her husband and pouncing on his weaknesses. Her performance captures the complexity of a woman who might be victim, co-villain, or perhaps merely a performative fantasy of a bad wife. Despite Strindberg's reputation for writing duels rather than fully realised female characters, Dillon makes Alice compelling and multidimensional.
Production Excellence
The creative team behind this production has created a visually stunning and thematically coherent experience. Ashley Martin-Davis's gorgeous set brings stormy seas and skies into the drawing room through striped bluish canvases that surround the action on all four sides. Peter Mumford's lighting design beautifully implies the transition from darkening night to rain-washed dawn, mirroring the emotional journey of the characters.
Eyre's direction is both clever and robust, finding every possible laughter line in Strindberg's text while maintaining the harrowing psychological tension. The adaptation's sweary, contemporary dialogue makes the nineteenth-century drama feel immediate and relevant, though the production remains faithful to the claustrophobic intensity that defines Strindberg's work.
Historical Context and Thematic Depth
Strindberg wrote The Dance of Death in just two months during 1900, drawing on his own experience of three failed marriages. The play represents his most concentrated exploration of marital dysfunction, lacking the moral framework of Ibsen or the compassion of Chekhov but offering instead a brutally honest examination of mutual dependency and cruelty.
While the production doesn't achieve the harrowing psychological mutuality of later works like Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (which drew directly on Strindberg's influence), it presents a compelling portrait of a marriage sustained by hatred rather than love. The relationship between Alice and Kurt remains somewhat thinly characterised, but this serves to emphasise the primary focus on the central couple's toxic dynamic.
A Richmond Theatre Gem
The Orange Tree Theatre continues its tradition of presenting thoughtful revivals of classic dramas in an intimate setting that brings audiences close to weighty performances. While this production of Dance of Death is unlikely to boost Richmond's reputation as London's happiest borough, it represents exactly the kind of challenging, intellectually stimulating theatre that makes the venue so valuable to the local community and beyond.
This is not date night material, but for those seeking an unflinching examination of human relationships at their most dysfunctional, Eyre's production offers a masterclass in theatrical intensity. The combination of superb performances, intelligent adaptation, and striking design creates a production that is both bitterly funny and profoundly disturbing – a fitting tribute to Strindberg's enduring vision of marital hell.
