‘Creditors’ Brings Intrigue to the Aurora Stage

‘Creditors’ Brings Intrigue to the Aurora Stage

ARTWORK BY ELIZABETH LADA

Watch power shift and grow deadly in this three-character play.

Written in 1888 by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, Creditors is a three-character play that takes place in the parlor of a seaside resort hotel. In this psychodrama about a destructive, sexual love triangle, Adolf, a painter-turned-sculpture, is manipulated by his new friend Gustav, who plants doubts in his mind about Tekla, Adolf’s novelist wife.

Scottish playwright David Greig’s new translation of Creditors is thrilling, bringing out the passionate, terrifying poetry of Strindberg’s prose. How can you destroy a marriage in a mere 90 minutes? As Creditors would suggest, it’s by the power of sly suggestion. The play incites equal parts laughter and fear as a composed, tidy man matter-of-factly convinces a younger, vulnerable man that his older wife is stifling his identity.

But who is Gustav, really? Power shifts grow more and more deadly — The New York Times calls the play “both coldly objective and scathingly passionate.” Everyone is always armed and dangerous, and no character can be trusted. Check out the Aurora Theatre Company production, directed by Barbara Damashek.

Creditors, opens Fri., Jan. 25, closes Sun., Feb. 24, times and prices vary, Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley, 510-843-4822, AuroraTheatre.org.