'He's a vampire. He sucks the life out of people because his own life bores him so much.'
A plague rages across Europe. On a remote island, former actress Alice and army officer Captain Edgar are quarantined together – locked in a bitter, brutal and compulsive marriage.
When an old friend arrives to help celebrate their wedding anniversary, it's the perfect excuse for the couple to take their games to a terrifying new level.
Filled with wit and savagery, Richard Eyre's thrilling version of August Strindberg's Dance of Death is a darkly comic portrait of psychological warfare. It premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, in 2026.
'A dramatic masterpiece... grotesquely funny... a profound exploration of existential futility'
— The Times
'Richard Eyre's candescent adaptation brings comedy and tenderness alongside Strindberg's savagery.... a terrible tango to the death but one which brings a rare and captivating pathos... expands into something much bigger than a mere marital misery-fest. Not to be missed'
— Guardian
'An intense, bitter and often funny triumph... a brutally effective black comedy... electrifying'
— London Standard
'Harrowingly funny... Eyre's sweary, funny adaptation makes the most of the biting humour... Imagine a gloomy, Nordic middle-aged version of Love Island in which the couple bond because they loathe everyone on the island, especially each other'
— Time Out
'Richard Eyre's incisive adaptation brings out the humour and darkness of Strindberg's study of enduring marriage and emotional torture... it's a stripped-down version that crackles with cruel wit... Eyre's version waltzes through the story's increasingly shocking turns at a rattling pace, stripping out superfluous characters while leaning into the play's utterly bleak humour'
— The Stage
'Brilliant but bleakly so... a grim vision of human relationships and it is to Eyre's immense credit as a director and adaptor that it is so superbly conveyed'
— WhatsOnStage
'The dark humour of a marital power-struggle, up close and personal... Before the lacerating spats of Albee's Martha and George, and the circular kvetching of Beckett's characters, there were August Strindberg's pioneering excursions into dark psychological truths... Richard Eyre's adaptation gives Strindberg's warring monsters a human dimension... his achievement is to make the piece relatable'
— Arts Desk
About the Author :
August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. His plays include The Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888), To Damascus (1898), The Dance of Death (1900), A Dream Play (1902) and The Ghost Sonata (1908).
Richard Eyre is a theatre director, writer and former Artistic Director of the National Theatre (a position he held from 1988 to 1997).
He worked for ten years in regional theatre in Leicester, Edinburgh and Nottingham (where he commissioned and directed Trevor Griffiths's Comedians, which later transferred to London and Broadway), and then became producer of BBC TV's Play for Today. In London his theatre work as adapter includes his versions of Jennifer Dawson's novel The Ha Ha, Sartre's Les Mains Sales, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre and the West End. His original play, The Snail House, was staged at Hampstead Theatre in 2022.
He became Artistic Director of the National Theatre in 1988, and has directed numerous productions there, including Guys and Dolls, The Beggar's Opera, Hamlet, Richard III, King Lear, Night of the Iguana, Sweet Bird of Youth, Racing Demon, Skylight, The Absence of War, Napoli Milionaria, La Grande Magia, White Chameleon, The Prince's Play, John Gabriel Borkman, The Invention of Love, The Reporter, The Observer, Welcome to Thebes and Liolà.
His other theatre work includes Hamlet, Edmond, The Shawl and Kafka's Dick at the Royal Court; Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, Mary Poppins and Private Lives in the West End and on Broadway; The Crucible on Broadway; The Last Cigarette and The Pajama Game at Chichester and the West End; Vincent in Brixton, Quartermaine's Terms, Betty Blue Eyes, Stephen Ward and Mr Foote's Other Leg in the West End.
His opera work includes La traviata at the Royal Opera House; Manon Lescaut at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus; Carmen, Werther and Le nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera.
His film and television work includes The Imitation Game, Comedians, Country, The Insurance Man, Tumbledown, Suddenly Last Summer, The Ploughman's Lunch, Iris, Stage Beauty, Notes on a Scandal, The Other Man, Henry IV Part I and II, The Dresser and Changing Stages, a six-part look at twentieth-century theatre which he wrote and presented.
He has published several books, including National Service, a journal of his time at the National Theatre, which won the Theatre Book Prize, and What Do I Know?, a collection of essays about people, politics and the arts.
He has received many awards for theatre, television and film, was knighted in 1997, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2011.
Review :
'A dramatic masterpiece... grotesquely funny... a profound exploration of existential futility'
'Richard Eyre's candescent adaptation brings comedy and tenderness alongside Strindberg's savagery.... a terrible tango to the death but one which brings a rare and captivating pathos... expands into something much bigger than a mere marital misery-fest. Not to be missed'
'An intense, bitter and often funny triumph... a brutally effective black comedy... electrifying'
'Harrowingly funny... Eyre's sweary, funny adaptation makes the most of the biting humour... Imagine a gloomy, Nordic middle-aged version of Love Island in which the couple bond because they loathe everyone on the island, especially each other'
'Richard Eyre's incisive adaptation brings out the humour and darkness of Strindberg's study of enduring marriage and emotional torture... it's a stripped-down version that crackles with cruel wit... Eyre's version waltzes through the story's increasingly shocking turns at a rattling pace, stripping out superfluous characters while leaning into the play's utterly bleak humour'
'Brilliant but bleakly so... a grim vision of human relationships and it is to Eyre's immense credit as a director and adaptor that it is so superbly conveyed'
'The dark humour of a marital power-struggle, up close and personal... Before the lacerating spats of Albee's Martha and George, and the circular kvetching of Beckett's characters, there were August Strindberg's pioneering excursions into dark psychological truths... Richard Eyre's adaptation gives Strindberg's warring monsters a human dimension... his achievement is to make the piece relatable'
'Deliciously dark and blackly comic... a grotesque dance of power play... Eyre brings the married couple to life through their believable mutual hatred and struggle for power... it's not pretty but it is quite delicious'
'Wickedly funny... a thrilling and exhilarating watch'
'Masterly... a deeply thoughtful, intelligent and invigorating take on the text... quite remarkable'
