About

by AUGUST STRINDBERG
adapted and directed by RICHARD EYRE

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 (Lisa Dillon) and army Captain Edgar (Will Keen) are quarantined together – locked in a bitter, brutal, and addictive marriage. When an old friend arrives to help celebrate their wedding anniversary, it’s the perfect excuse for the couple to take their terrifying games to a new level.

August Strindberg’s masterpiece Dance of Death is a darkly comic portrait of psychological warfare – a toxic love story that continues to thrill audiences today.

Richard Eyre follows a series of revelatory Ibsen productions with this new adaptation featuring two of Britain’s top theatre actors, Lisa Dillon and Will Keen. Dillon’s prolific career encompasses numerous RSC and West End leading roles, while Keen (His Dark Materials, The Crown) is fresh from his Olivier Award-winning performance in Patriots (Almeida, West End, Broadway).

Dance of Death is generously supported by the Cockayne Foundation

“Richard Eyre’s thrilling production re-administers, as if for the first time, the devastating shock and the sheer affront of Ibsen’s drama.” The Independent on Hedda Gabler

“Richard Eyre’s superb staging, in his own fleet and vivid adaptation, held me in its grip throughout.” Daily Telegraph on Ghosts