Strindberg and Modernist Theatre

This book offers an analysis of Strindberg's major expressionist works in performance.

This book offers an analysis of Strindberg's major post-Inferno works in performance, from the early productions of Max Reinhardt and Olof Molander to the reinterpretations of Robert Lepage, Robert Wilson and Ingmar Bergman. Each chapter of the book ends with a section devoted to innovative Strindberg performances on the contemporary stage.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.