May 8, 2007
Skilfully directed by Alice Lacey, this tictek production of Strindberg’s depressing commentary on intramarital strife runs until Saturday 12th May and is well worth a visit.
Living on the isolated garrison island that the locals call ‘little hell’, Alice and Edgar have perfected the snipes, snubs and barbs that have formed the punctuation to the twenty-five year sentence of their marriage. He has stalled in his military career at the relatively low rank of captain; alienating everyone around him with his snobbery, intransigence and the delight he takes in rudeness. His wife is bitter: at the lost career in the theatre that she sacrificed for marriage; at the poverty of her position from a financial and emotional point of view. They have stewed in their own stock for so long that the arrival of an old friend and family member, Kurt, is seen by both merely as fresh ammunition for their battle of the sexes.
Kurt is initially keen to remain as neutral, but soon becomes embroiled in the combat. He is torn from one to another by emotional blackmail that escalates to the point where he can no longer cope, leaving the two to their own devices. At the end they are a little chastened and resolve to cease fire; the real casualty is Kurt.
Strong performances from all three principles – Ellen Buddle as Alice, Jack Farchy as Edgar and Peter Clapp as Kurt - created believable characters in this martial marital setting. Ellen Buddle skilfully played the manipulative shrew with rising energy as the stakes were raised. At the finish we are left in no doubt that what appeared at first to be a harshly put upon wife is actually the skilled actress who left the theatre for marriage. Jack Farchy was splendid as the grotesque Captain Edgar, described by Strindberg himself as ‘A refined demon!’ By turns bullying, spiteful and hectoring, Edgar – monstrous to begin – is somewhat chastened by illness and is first to extend the hand of amelioration to Alice. Peter Clapp in the role of Kurt showed us a man struggling with emotions from guilt via lust to revulsion.
The play asks questions about human interaction and throws up a depressing (indeed, a depressive’s) view of people’s behaviour towards one another. As earlier stated this production is well worth a visit, giving a taste of Strindberg in his bleakest analysis of man’s inhumanity to man.
Living on the isolated garrison island that the locals call ‘little hell’, Alice and Edgar have perfected the snipes, snubs and barbs that have formed the punctuation to the twenty-five year sentence of their marriage. He has stalled in his military career at the relatively low rank of captain; alienating everyone around him with his snobbery, intransigence and the delight he takes in rudeness. His wife is bitter: at the lost career in the theatre that she sacrificed for marriage; at the poverty of her position from a financial and emotional point of view. They have stewed in their own stock for so long that the arrival of an old friend and family member, Kurt, is seen by both merely as fresh ammunition for their battle of the sexes.
Kurt is initially keen to remain as neutral, but soon becomes embroiled in the combat. He is torn from one to another by emotional blackmail that escalates to the point where he can no longer cope, leaving the two to their own devices. At the end they are a little chastened and resolve to cease fire; the real casualty is Kurt.
Strong performances from all three principles – Ellen Buddle as Alice, Jack Farchy as Edgar and Peter Clapp as Kurt - created believable characters in this martial marital setting. Ellen Buddle skilfully played the manipulative shrew with rising energy as the stakes were raised. At the finish we are left in no doubt that what appeared at first to be a harshly put upon wife is actually the skilled actress who left the theatre for marriage. Jack Farchy was splendid as the grotesque Captain Edgar, described by Strindberg himself as ‘A refined demon!’ By turns bullying, spiteful and hectoring, Edgar – monstrous to begin – is somewhat chastened by illness and is first to extend the hand of amelioration to Alice. Peter Clapp in the role of Kurt showed us a man struggling with emotions from guilt via lust to revulsion.
The play asks questions about human interaction and throws up a depressing (indeed, a depressive’s) view of people’s behaviour towards one another. As earlier stated this production is well worth a visit, giving a taste of Strindberg in his bleakest analysis of man’s inhumanity to man.