The Stronger and Playing with Fire Perfectly Complement Each Other at the ATA

August Strindberg was a true renaissance man of late 19^th Century Sweden—a prolific playwright, painter, novelist and poet. His plays are lauded examples of both naturalism and surrealism; he was quoted as saying, “I want to turn everything upside down to see what lies beneath.” The 10-minute monologue The Stronger and the farcical Playing with Fire are a fine sampling of his work and his worldview.

The semi-autobiographical The Stronger, written in 1889,features one actor in a brief but powerfully intense scene. Jennifer Patino triumphs in a solo performance as actress Madam X. There is another character, Amelia, AKA Mademoiselle Y. She is also an actress, and a rival to Mme X both on the stage and behind the scenes. Amelia has no dialogue, and though often portrayed by a second actor in productions of the piece, is here represented only by an empty chair.

Mme X, brandishing a basket of gifts for her “little piggies” (her children Liza and Henry), runs into Amelia, who is seated alone at an empty café.

“Good evening, sitting here on Christmas Eve like a poor old maid!” chides Mme X. “It worries me to see you this way,” she tut-tuts with fake sincerity and genuine condescension. She admonishes Amelia for giving up on her marriage, and threateningly waves around the pop gun she bought Henry. She then launches into a diatribe that escalates quickly, the main topic being Mme X’s own husband Bob, whom we learn Amelia is all-too “familiar” with. “You ought to have such a husband,” she says, twisting the knife and foreshadowing a revelation. Patino is riveting as she raises the temperature slowly and believably through her deft physicality and expert performance of the difficult monologue. In just over ten minutes she tears down her unseen rival who—in the audience’s imagining—heartbreakingly takes it all in, in stunned, defeated silence. “Thank you for teaching my husband how to be a good lover,” is a finishing blow far more deadly than any gunshot.

Playing with Fire is an unusually comedic turn from Strindberg, crafted in 1893, and also drawn from his own life experiences. Max Branciforte is Knut, a painter, and husband to the regal Kerstin (Annie Unger). The couple are entertaining visitors at the summer home owned by Knut’s parents (Amy Losi and Edmund McCarthy). The guests are young demure cousin Adele (Carolyn Best) and mutual friend Axel (Jessie Allen Hitner)—a jacket-, tie- and white tennis shoe-wearing writer who arrived in the middle of the night. The morning of the get-together begins cordially, but tensions rise when the true relationships among the characters—and what they truly think of each other—are slowly brought to the surface. Knut insists profusely that he is not jealous of the charismatic Axel; Adele is constantly cleaning, to the ire of Kerstin. “It’s her way of criticizing me and showing me up!” she observes. Knut is living off his parents’ allowance, while ungratefully dismissing them as “Philistines”. “You haven’t worked a day in your life,” fires back his mother. “And your father wasn’t a Philistine when he built this house for a scoundrel like you!” And circumstances (delightfully) escalate from there. It’s revealed that Knut is having an affair with Adele, who Knut’s father would love to make his own mistress. Adele is enamored with Axel—but confirming Knut’s suspicions, the charming writer is revealed to also be the true object of Kerstin’s desire. The reveal of the latter’s limerence sparks an unexpected response from Knut; he finds the competition is actually reigniting his dormant interest in his own marriage. Thus enfolds a hilarious, quotable tale of impropriety among the upper-class. Playing with Fire is the perfect main course after the appetizer of The Stronger; a love triangle storyteeming with sparkling discourse, it is presented with relish by a cast that is clearly enjoying the witty dialogue and delicious material.

The Stronger and Playing with Fire are stylishly directed by Sean Szak Prasso. There will be an encore performance at the American Theatre of Actors on March 2^nd, 2025.