Tag: Howard Brenton

After August: Creditors by August Strindberg, Adapted by Howard Brenton, Orange Tree Theatre, 6 September 2025

Oh boy was I excited ahead of this one. Janie and I don’t usually go to see plays when we have seen an excellent production before. But we are huge fans of Strindberg and this just seemed too good to miss.

Tom Littler, Director, pairing up again with Howard Brenton adapting a Strindberg play. We loved their version of The Dances of Death at The Gate

Dances Of Death by August Strindberg in a new version by Howard Brenton, Gate Theatre, 21 June 2013

Could that team possibly wow us again, this time with Creditors, a play which we had seen in an excellent production at The Donmar “back in the day”?

Creditors by August Strindberg in a new version by David Greig, Donmar Warehouse, 27 September 2008

Yes they could.

Despite the risk of over-expectation, Janie and I were wowed by this production of Creditors at the Orange Tree, which we saw on the day of the first preview.

Charles Dance, Nicholas Farrell and Geraldine James are such fine actors and professional folk all, we should not be surprised that their performances seemed as polished as one might expect deep into a run. Only the curtain call (if you can call it a curtain call in a curtain-free, in-the-round place like The Orange Tree) showed signs of under-preparation. At a first preview, that surely can be forgiven, or even awarded laughter and additional applause, which it was.

The evening started slightly oddly. We arrived at The Orange Tree early enough for a pre-show drink. The gentleman serving behind the bar, whom I did not recognise, looked up at us and said:

I’ve just been reading your blog.

When Janie expressed surprise, both at the fact that the gentleman recognised me and that he had been reading my blog, the gentleman said:

He’s got a very recognisable face. And there aren’t many people who blog about both The Orange Tree Theatre and Lord’s cricket.

We then all three had a brief chat about Middlesex cricket before parting company, in our case with our drinks.

I’d be less recognisable if someone stopped taking all those double-selfies

Returning to The Orange Tree’s production of Creditors, there is clearly something that really works when Howard Brenton adapts Strindberg plays and Tom Littler then directs them. Those two seem to “get” Strindberg, creating an atmosphere, setting the scenarios and pacing the text masterfully. In the hands of a fine acting trio such as Dance, Farrell and James, it is a gob-smackingly good 90 minutes or so of theatre.

Such a shame (for those without tickets) that the run has sold out, but there will be a filmed version of this production available for streaming in October and perhaps this production will get a transfer. This really is one of those productions that theatre lovers should have a chance to see. Janie and I feel hugely privileged to have got to see this production on its very first airing.

Formal reviews should start appearing soon if they have not already started appearing by the time you read this – click here for a good search term that should capture most perhaps even all.

We love The Orange Tree Theatre. Have I mentioned that before? (Yes).

Lawrence After Arabia by Howard Brenton, Hampstead Theatre, 21 May 2016

Feisal_I_of_Iraq
It has been said that his majesty and I bear some slight resemblance… https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feisal_I_of_Iraq.jpg

Oh dear.

It sounded like a good idea when we booked it. Such an interesting period of Middle-Eastern history. Howard Brenton, who did such an interesting job on Ai Weiwei, taking on an interesting character in T. E. Lawrence. Timely, as it is the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement this year…

The problem is, that period was also a period when English theatre was in its dull Edwardian through 1920s drawing room drama doldrums. Howard Brenton seems to think it a good idea to parody the very worst of that period’s drama for this play. Director John Dove takes the idea further with a staid, static style to the piece. There are some good actors in this play but frankly we couldn’t care less what happened to any of the characters, which doesn’t give the cast much room for manoevre.

Neither Janie nor I could tell you too much detail about the first half; we both slept through much of it. It was a deathly dull hour, even when sleep spares you much of it. It would have been a deathly dull two hours, but we agreed to cut our losses and leave at the interval. So we can’t tell you anything about the second half. I am reliably informed by Grant (someone I know from the gym who did suffer the whole thing) that it gets no better in the second half.

The Hampstead Theatre area for this play has lots of good reviews – here , so it has clearly received good reviews, not least in both of the Telegraphs. The audience certainly looked like they had all been bussed in from Telegraph reader central casting. However:

Congratulations to all of you critics for managing to stay awake sufficiently to review the piece, or alternatively for covering up your lack of wakefulness deftly in your columns.

I did wake up for the bit where Lawrence shows off the thawb, bisht and igal, the garments of a bedouin leader, gifted to him by Prince (later King) Faisal. I liked that bit. Firstly, I am said by some to resemble Faisal (see picture above); I certainly resemble him far more than the actor who plays him in this play.

Secondly I have a fine collection of natty thawbs, bestowed upon me by one of Janie’s wealthy Saudi clients. Indeed I do much of my writing at the flat wearing a thawb; especially in the summer when it is a very sensible way to dress when writing.

But I digress. The play is deathly dull. Did I mention that before? Is irritating when people waste your time simply repeating stuff they have said before? Or is it a quirky, whimsical touch, that could maintain your interest and tickle your sense of humour for a couple of hours.

On a positive note, the programme is a really interesting read. We highly recommend it. The programme is well worth the trip to Swiss Cottage and its £3.50 cover price. Just don’t waste your time and money on this turkey of a play.

Drawing The Line by Howard Brenton, Hampstead Theatre, 27 December 2013

When we saw Jacquie and Hils Briegal for Christmas, we discovered that we were all going to see this play on the same night as couple of days later, along with Brother-in-law/Uncle Bernard Jacobs.

Typically, Jacquie said that Janie and I should join the family at her place for some supper after the show which we did.

Frankly, the play was rather dull. It’s funny how Howard Brenton tends to either get it very right or very wrong for me. this one missed the mark.

Fascinating subject, the partition of India, but what an old-fashioned “tell don’t show” history play it was.

Click here for a link to the Hampstead resource on this production.

Below is a video trailer with cast interviews:

Below is an interview with Howard Brenton about it:

The show got mostly good reviews – click here for a search term that finds them – so Janie and I form a minority view in that regard.

I think we were the least impressed among the family too.

What the family readily agreed, though, was that Jacquie’s supper spread and the family natter was the highlight of the evening. Bernard was in especially good form that night. Sadly, he passed away just before new year 2018 – more or less exactly four years after this splendid gathering, which I’m sure he enjoyed, as did we.

Dances Of Death by August Strindberg in a new version by Howard Brenton, Gate Theatre, 21 June 2013

This version still available in print through this link (and other places)

Yes, yes, yes! This was really good.

I have seen The Dance of Death before – indeed both parts – but this tight version by Howard Brenton, enabling both parts to pan out in one play, worked really well for me and for Janie too.

Superbly well acted – Michael Pennington and Linda Marlowe were sensational in the leading roles (my previous experience of Edgar and Alice was Alan Bates and Francis de la Tour, so I know my top notch Edgar and Alices). 

We Interrupt Keele Festival Week To Dice With Death On A Strindberg Theatre Trip To London, 28 June 1985

The youngsters (Edward Franklin and Eleanor Wyld) in the tightened up Part Two were also excellent, as were all the supporting cast.

An extraordinary production too, in that tiny theatre, managing to get so much out of that small space.

Click here for a link to the Gate resource for this play/production.

Click here to a search term for the (mostly very good) reviews.

A cracker.

#aiww: The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei by Howard Brenton, Hampstead Theatre, 26 April 2013

Janie and I both loved this piece/production.

I’m not a great lover of Howard Brenton’s work; the best of it is terrific (e.g. Pravda, which he wrote jointly with David Hare), while some of his plays seem to me to be gratuitously violent, ponderous or both. But this one is excellent.

Here is a link to the Hampstead resource on this play/production.

A fabulous piece of design, trying to utilise Ai Weiwei principles without overdoing it, the set was eye-catching throughout.

A large cast, all good, led by Benedict Wong who was superb as Ai Weiwei – the fact that he really looks the part helps but would not have been sufficient – he is also a very good actor. James MacDonald is a very reliable director too.

Parenthetically, Benedict Wong SO looks the part that Janie mistook him for Ai Weiwei himself at the theatre a couple of years later – click here or below:

You For Me For You by Mia Chung, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 9 January 2016

This link – click here – takes you to a short BBC interview with Howard Brenton about the piece.

Below is a short vid showing the making of the urns for this production:

Here is a link to reviews etc for this play/production- mostly deservedly excellent.

Never So Good by Howard Brenton, Lyttelton Theatre, 22 March 2008

Janie and I both carry fond memories of this play/production, although it was a long play and is the sort of play that we sometimes dislike.

Howard Brenton has a tendency either to pull off this type of history/personality play with aplomb (as he did with this one and the Ai Wei Wei one) or leave us stone cold, as he did with his play about drawing lines across India at the time of Independence.

Jeremy Irons isn’t my favourite; he’s always sort-of Jeremy Irons. But Jeremy Irons is sort-of Harold Macmillan, so that aspect worked.

One element of the play that I recall really working for me was the notion of the young Harold, played by Pip Carter, moving the narrative on, even in the later years when Harold was becoming an old duffer.

There’s a decent Wikipedia entry for this play – here – which also provides the links to the main theatre reviews (saving me the trouble), which were very favourable on the whole.

Having said that, Wikipedia’s critics list is short and perhaps selective:

Official London Theatre kindly archived its synopsis and list of cast and creatives, saving me a lot of typing. Thanks for nothing, RNT, which, with all its funding, provides far less past production archive than most half-decent fringe theatres.