A toxic waltz: Steppenwolf’s ‘Dance of Death’ delivers dark laughs from a bitter marriage
“The Dance of Death” — 3.5 stars
It’s funny how Steppenwolf Theatre Company has chosen to celebrate part of its 50th anniversary season by showcasing one of Western theater’s most toxic wedding anniversaries in “The Dance of Death.” But that’s par for the course for a Chicago theater institution that is famous for the ferocious acting of its ensemble.
“The Dance of Death” is a significant Steppenwolf ensemble affair. Yasen Peyankov adroitly directs the three-member cast of Jeff Perry (one of Steppenwolf’s three co-founders alongside Terry Kinney and Gary Sinise), Kathryn Erbe (back at Steppenwolf after a nearly three-decade absence) and Cliff Chamberlain (an ensemble member since 2018).
And “The Dance of Death” certainly offers loads of dark humor and devious drama for everyone to sink their teeth into. Originally dreamed up around 1900 by Swedish playwright August Strindberg (“Miss Julie,” “The Father”), “The Dance of Death” was likely a reflection on his unsuccessful marriage to actress Siri von Essen (Strindberg would unhappily marry two more times).
In this economical three-character English adaptation by Irish playwright Conor McPherson (previously staged to much acclaim in 2014 by Writers Theatre in Glencoe), “The Dance of Death” invites audiences to both laugh and recoil at all the relationship scheming and sabotage.
Set on a remote island military outpost, “The Dance of Death” zeros in on the irascible Captain (Perry) and his younger former-actress wife, Alice (Erbe). Their domestic home is a hulking tower (an impressively imposing set design by Collette Pollard) with an unsavory and symbolic past.
It’s clear that Alice and the Captain engage in never-ending bickering. This allows us to see their justified pariah status among all the other island inhabitants.
But the regular sparring routine gets heightened with the arrival of Kurt (Chamberlain), a newly stationed Quarantine Master who is also a divorced cousin of Alice. Kurt has a history of getting Alice and the Captain together nearly 25 years ago, so the couple end up playing a precursor game of “Get the Guests” so memorably explored later in Edward Albee’s 1962 marital drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
With so much bile in Strindberg’s script, it’s a surprising relief that director Peyankov has steered his cast to mostly play the material for big laughs like a hit TV sitcom. Perry’s Captain is full of great comical bluster on the scale of an animated Disney villain accomplice, but things take more serious turns once his many health problems are exposed.
As Alice, Erbe is much more quietly bitter and reserved — perhaps a tad too low-key for my taste. But the outward pleasantness of Alice ultimately conceals a scheming ruthlessness of someone playing the long game to come out on top.
Chamberlain’s Kurt rightfully endears by sharing his regretful character’s confusion as he repeatedly has to weigh what’s true and what are lies spewed by Alice and the Captain. Chamberlain also gets plenty of laughs with his shocked physicality and stunned looks of disbelief.
In addition to Pollard’s massive tower set, the production impresses with Rick Sims’ sometimes spooky sound design, the doom-and-gloom lighting design of Lee Fiskness, and Ana Kuzmanic’s fine period costumes.
The overwhelming joviality of Steppenwolf’s staging arguably outweighs the dark despair of the piece. So, Strindberg’s proto-existential stance that “hell is other people” can feel slightly shortchanged by the end.
But for crowds looking to swim in smart sarcasm and dark comedy crafted by a searing Steppenwolf cast and crew, this production definitely wows as a precautionary anti-Valentine experience. And given the long back history of the Steppenwolf ensemble, this “Dance of Death” is an entirely appropriate and clear-eyed anniversary engagement for the artists.
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Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, (312) 335-1650, steppenwolf.org/
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday (no shows Feb. 17, 25 and 26 and March 3 and 17; no matinee March 14); extra 2 p.m. matinee March 11; runs through March 22
Tickets: $20-$148.50
Running time: About 2 hours, 15 minutes, with an intermission
Parking: Area pay garages, paid valet and limited metered street parking
Rating: Minor profanity, brief drug use and bursts of violence and passion