Creditors: A Tragi-Comedy

(thanks to my friend Annalise for snapping this picture in the subway)

"A superbly taut, tense and terrible little play"--a 1959 review

"Don't be afraid later, when you see me at work dissecting a human soul and laying out the bits and pieces here on the table. It sounds nasty if you're a beginner, but once you've seen it done you won't regret the experience." --Gustav, one of the three characters in Creditors

"It seemed to me to be less of a play and more an almost demonic experiment on a set of three human lab rats." --David Greif, current playwright and translator

"The characters don't argue; they use words like clubs." --Germaine Greer, reviewer

If this doesn't sound like your idea of an enjoyable Tuesday night, well, I'm with you. But it turns out I was wrong.

I had not heard of August Strindberg or his play Creditors (1888) before a few weeks ago. It passed my radar when I was looking at upcoming shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (which is called BAM.) Creditors, importantly, was directed by Alan Rickman and coming off of a very well-received run in London. Being a very big fan of Alan Rickman, and more specifically his voice, I was even more thrilled that he would be giving an artist talk before one of the performances. Hastily, two of my friends and I booked tickets and decided to go to the play as well.

Now, as I said, I didn't know what I was getting myself into, so I checked a Strindberg book out of the library, hunkered down, and realized that I would be dreading this 90 minute, no intermission battle of human emotions. There are three characters (Adolf, Gustav, and Tekla) who form a pretty twisted romantic triangle. I don't do well with plays which only take place in one room. I had more fun preparing for the Alan Rickman part, where I watched four of his movies in one weekend.

So: the day arrived, we met our out-of-town friend and had a lovely time with her. We went to the talk, wolfed some food in the lobby (between us we'd smuggled in about 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes in our purses--it was pretty classy) and climbed the 70 stairs to our seats in the nosebleed section. The seats, I should add, were bar stools with backs that you had to hop into, so I was even more not excited about sitting there and being depressed.

The play was great. Genuinely heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching, but also--funny? Yep, I laughed, and more than once. The words which seemed so dull on the page came out of someplace in the actors that felt very real. Rickman must be a very, very good director (listening to him talk, you get the sense that he is.) What was intriguing about the performance is that I hated all of the characters at one point or another, and then two lines later pitied them immensely. Humans can be awful sometimes. But we recognize that awfulness, too.

Here is one thing I don't quite understand. When I read the play, I chalked Strindberg up as a misogynist, and sort of dismissed him as such (Greer points this out, too). But, as I watched the play, I realized that 1. his male characters are just as vile and cutting as his female ones, and 2. Tekla was the one with the power, the drive, and the self-confidence to do what she wanted. Since she is more powerful than the men, is that a negative portrayal of women or not?

And what about the Creditor to my heart? (ha, nice one.) Celebrity must be such an odd thing. People kept giving Rickman presents after they asked him questions, which we thought was both hilarious and off-putting. What were they, copies of screenplays they wanted him to look at? Anyway, here are my impressions of the Man, the Myth, the Legend:


(thanks to BAM online for the image!)
1. He has a way of smiling which is completely disarming. He said that his old acting coaches told him to stop sounding like he "was talking out the back of a drainpipe" but his voice is mesmerizing. He thinks a lot before he speaks, so every word takes on a certain purpose. He lingers on the words he likes, like "vicious" or "relentless" or the phrase "subtle cruelty," which he said with great relish.
2. He seems normal. Yes, I certainly wasn't talking to him face to face, but he was modest and kept chuckling (which sounded like a bear laughing) and was self-deprecating and very English.
3. He is smart. Having just watched Bottle Shock, a movie which no one has heard of but which I enjoyed (if you liked Sideways you would like it, I think), I was pretty sure he was fluent in French. Not only that, but as he talked he spit out quotes and examples from a bunch of different directors, theatrical and otherwise. He could recite theory and pop culture with the same ease.
4. He genuinely loves acting, and I think he really likes the theatre. At one point, he said that there is a "human need to be told a story," which can only be fulfilled by seeing someone in person and feeling the energy there. Having watched Creditors, I would agree. There were a few points where people around me actually jumped or gasped. Rickman also said that he hoped that truly listening would equal truly learning. Well Alan, you got certainly got me to listen.

Don't know much about Alan Rickman's career? Watch this and this and this. Immediately. For more of his voice, listen here. And for an irreverent (and very good!) impression of him by John Sessions, check this out. For even MORE irreverence, check out Strindberg and Helium.

At one point, Tekla tells Gustav, "there is no guilt, Gustav. There's just...people--men and women, fallen human beings--trying to do what they can to live. No one is to blame, Gustav. Not even you." It shouldn't be reassuring, this thought. But somehow it is.