'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