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Review: Liev Schreiber Owes Us Nothing in Creditors
May 28, 2025, 8:57.54 pm ET

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Photo: Emilio Madrid

By Brian Scott Lipton

The difficulties of having a successful marriage have fascinated dramatists for centuries, from William Shakespeare to Edward Albee to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Still, few men had such a dour view of the institution as the Swedish playwright August Strindberg, as evidenced by such plays as “Dance of Death,” “The Father,” and, especially “Creditors,” the latter of which has arrived at the Minetta Lane Theatre as part of its new Audible Theater x TOGETHER collaboration.

For those of you wanting to avoid a thoroughly depressing 90 minutes, rest assured that Jen Silverman’s “new version” of the work, superbly directed by Ian Rickson, has a fair share of gentle laughs. Still, “Creditors” is no light comedy; it remains a thought-provoking and often distressing portrait of the challenges of matrimony through its three vividly drawn characters, here embodied by Liev Schrieber (in a truly outstanding performance), Maggie Siff and Justice Smith.

The entire play, consisting of three long scenes, takes place in the confines of a Scandinavian island hotel (nicely rendered by Brett J. Banakis and Christine Jones) where Adi (Smith), a young artist seemingly in some sort of crisis about both his career and his marriage, is talking to an older man (Schreiber). He’s never identified by name; he’s simply a fellow guest Adi met three nights before and who has become his conversational companion as Adi’s wife, Tekla (Siff) – now a celebrated author – spends her evenings giving talks, going to parties, and ignoring the increasingly agitated Adi.

The man, almost preternaturally calm -- often grabbing the occasional drink and smoking in his lounge chair -- both listens intently and offers Adi all sorts of advice, much of which seems to have come from hard-earned experience. Some of it is regards Adi’s career – including encouraging him to give up painting for sculpture – but most of it involves how to “handle” Tekla, mainly forcing her to become more submissive to Adi’s desires.

We learn, as well, that Tekla left her previous husband when she met Adi (who is considerably younger than her) on this same island, and the knowledge that she has a history of being unfaithful feeds into Adi’s insecurity and the “advice” given by his new friend.

The plot, as they say, thickens through the next two scenes: the first one – filled with tension -- is between the free-spirited Tekla (beautifully costumed by Asta Bennie Hostetter) and the now-more assertive Adi. While new boundaries are attempted, Tekla -- given fire and fortitude by the magnetic Siff -- both professes her sincere love for Adi yet remains steadfast that she will never be controlled by anyone other than herself, leaving Adi even more insecure than he was before.

Lastly, we witness a “surprise” meeting between Tekla and the older man (whose name and identity are finally revealed, which I think most theatergoers will have figured out). Schreiber is particularly brilliant here, while still in understated mode, alternately expressing remorse, regret, humility, false humility, guile, and even anger as everything we’ve watched before becomes painfully clear.

It’s to Strindberg’s credit that we don’t know how the play will end – although Silverman has written a final scene that bears almost no resemblance to the original play, and which changes the work’s entire outlook on human relations. Purists will object, but I expect modern audiences will be more satisfied by this version of “Creditors.”

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