In a ramshackle theatre, August Strindberg directs two actors in an autobiographical play detailing his difficult, stormy relationship with his first wife. This drama about a sensitive, driven, turbulent and mystical playwright uses a fictional play-within-a-play device to create the environment within which its director/subject - Strindburg - works out his relationships with his lovers and his cast. "Playing the Wife" was first presented at the Chichester Festival in 1995, with Derek Jacobi as Strindburg.