One half of an Audible Theater double billing, Creditors presents a unique theatre three-hander thriller with bite. The minimalist cast includes Liev Schreiber, Justice Smith, and Maggie Siff, all of whom only share the stage in the final few minutes. The single-setting premise gives way to tensions and manipulations, revelations and arguments, tears and embraces. It doesn’t always work as well it should, but the entire sold out crowd at my showing were laughing their collective asses off at the darkly humorous dialogue. A trio of riveting performances keeps Creditors feeling fresh throughout, practically sparkling anytime Justice Smith appears onstage.
Set at a seaside hotel, we never once leave the room of it couple, passionate painter Adi (Smith, I Saw the TV Glow, Detective Pikachu) and his bestselling author wife, Tekla (Maggie Siff, Sons of Anarchy, The 5th Wave). But there’s trouble in paradise. Where Adi is sweet and deeply emotional, Tekla’s eccentric flirtatiousness presents an interesting power play. Opinionated stranger, Gustav (Schreiber, Scream, Ray Donovan), stokes the flames of discontent, spending the entirety of the play’s runtime separately manipulating the happy couple.
For the largest chunk of the show, Adi and Gustav converse over drinks, with Gustav deflecting every question about himself to focus on Adi’s marital situation. Certainly, these two men are able to play the extremes of both Adi and Gustav with relative ease. For his part, Schreiber’s Gustav is reserved and extremely insightful. We cling to his every word as if he recites gospel. Smith’s charismatic charms are imbued into Adi—he also becomes an easy target, with his positivity constantly being swept under the rug by Gustav’s harsh barbs. These concern everything from jealousy to masculinity to professional successes and failures. No topic seems off bounds in their push-and-pull discussion. This is a game of telling rather than showing, making us use our imaginations. The only tidbits we know about the marriage are the ones we learn organically. Are we to take words as facts?
Siff does not appear until nearly an hour into Creditors. This makes it feel off-kilter, but also forces the audience to fill in the blanks on what we are not seeing. We have a fully-formed picture of Tekla well before she gleefully emerges. For Siff, her Tekla could not possibly be a likable character regardless of who was playing her. That means Siff does an exceptional job, because frankly Tekla is infuriating to watch. She takes none of Adi’s words seriously, flaunts her connections, deflects real concerns, and never takes responsibilities for any of her actions. We see each of the players only in pairs, and this specifically twists the knife. The audience always has the upper hand once Tekla emerges, armed with knowledge that one or the other does not yet know. Wielding this power emphasizes the strangeness in dynamics.
Perhaps one could wonder about the dullness of watching fiery barbs launched back and forth on a sparse stage armed with a handy bar, some lounge chairs, and little else. Schreiber smokes cigarettes almost nonstop, Smith gets to tearfully emote as he experiences the greatest highs and lows, and Siff has the most mystique and built-in backstory by the time she emerges that everyone else does the heavy lifting for her. This is all to say that Creditors allows an acting showcase for its leads, even if it lacks the exclamation points of a ferocious climax. The original ending of the play sounded much more impactful. For a fine night of thought-provoking, character-driven theatre, Jen Silverman’s adaptation of August Strindberg’s play will make for quite the watercooler topic.
Creditors is now playing performances at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre. For ticketing information, head over to the official website.
