Strindberg and Modernist Theatre: Post-Inferno Drama on the Stage
Cambridge University Press, 11/28/2002
EAN 9780521623773, ISBN10: 0521623774
Hardcover, 190 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
Despite the profound influence exerted by August Strindberg on the development of modernist theatre and drama, the myth persisted that his plays - particularly such later works as A Dream Play, To Damascus, and The Ghost Sonata - are somehow 'unperformable'. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as this book sets out to demonstrate by providing a detailed performance analysis of the major works created after the period of personal crisis which Strindberg called his Inferno. Ranging from the early productions of Max Reinhardt and Olof Molander to the reinterpretations of Robert Lepage, Robert Wilson and Ingmar Bergman in our own day, this study explores the crucial impact that this writer's allusive (and elusive) method of playwriting has had on the changing nature of the theatrical experience. Each chapter ends with a section devoted to innovative Strindberg performances on the contemporary stage.
List of illustrations
Preface
1. Before Inferno
Strindberg and nineteenth-century theatre
2. Toward a new theatre
To Damascus
3. A theatre of dreams
A Dream Play
4. Chamber theatre
The Ghost Sonata
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.
"Superb illustrations and an effective discussion of various directors'approaches to [Strindberg's] works.... Recommended." Choice
"Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker excel at what they do: they create living histories of individual performances. They are indeed so good at what they do that it is probably caviling to note that they do not succeed at proving that "these plays...have had a compelling impact on modernist and postmodernist theatre and theatrical theory" (ix). Nonetheless, Strindberg and Modernist Theatre stands as an important contribution to an understanding of Strindberg's plays as theater." Scandinavian Studies, Marilyn Johns Blackwell, Ohio State University