De Zweedse August Strindberg (1849-1912) wordt gezien als een van de meest belangrijke toneelschrijvers van rond de eeuwwisseling. Zijn choquerende theaterstukken had veel weerklank bij het publiek in die tijd, en inspireert tot op de dag van vandaag toneelschrijvers en publiek. Strindberg was een onophoudelijke innovator van verschillende theatervormen, een bron van inspiratie voor onder meer Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett en Ingmar Bergman en heeft een vruchtbare bodem gelegd voor het moderne toneel. Zijn voorwoord voor Miss Julie en zijn inleiding bij A Dream Play zijn alom bekend en vaak herdrukt. Wat minder bekend is, is dat Strindberg veel toneelstukken recenseerde en kritieken schreef over het theater in z'n algemeen, en zijn toneelstukken in het bijzonder. Dit boek bevat de meest belangrijke van zijn kritieken, chronologisch weergegeven en geannoteerd, waarvan vele voor het eerst in het Engels.

This book offers a detailed critical analysis of Strindberg's major works in performance, created after his psychic upheaval, which he 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, the study explores the crucial impact of this dramatist's method of playwriting. Each chapter ends with a section devoted to innovative Strindberg performances on the contemporary stage.

Dramatist, theatre practitioner, novelist, and painter, August Strindberg’s diverse dramatic output embodied the modernist sensibility. He was above all one of the most radical innovators of Western theatre. This book provides an insightful assessment of Strindberg’s vital contribution to the dramatic arts, while placing his creative process and experimental approach within a wider cultural context. Eszter Szalczer explores Strindberg’s re-definition of drama as a fluid, constantly evolving form that profoundly influenced playwriting and theatrical production from the German Expressionists to the Theatre of the Absurd. Key productions of Strindberg’s plays are analysed, examining his theatre as a living voice that continues to challenge audiences, critics, and even the most innovative directors. August Strindberg provides an essential and accessible guide to the playwright’s work and illustrates the influence of his drama on our understanding of contemporary theatre.

Drama. Translated from the Swedish by Paul Walsh. THE CHAMBER PLAYS OF AUGUST STRINDBERG are five short plays written by Strindberg at the end of his career for the Intimate Theater, a small 150 seat theater in Stockholm: "Storm," "Burned House," "The Ghost Sonata," "The Pelican," and "The Black Glove." The plays experiment with style in bold and exciting ways and show Strindberg to be one of the fathers of avant garde theater. THE CHAMBER PLAYS OF AUGUST STRINDBERG is a new translation by Paul Walsh, Professor of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the Yale School of Drama.

Strindberg's most important and most frequently performed plays—The Father, Miss Julie, A Dream Play, The Dance of Death, and The Ghost Sonata—are gathered together here in translations praised for their fluency and their elegance.

August Strindberg (1849-1912) has been referred to as "the father of modern literature" in Sweden, and has earned the distinction of one of the most important playwrights of the 20th century. As an author unafraid of exploring new possibilities in dramatic fiction, Strindberg is noted for his psychological realism, blatant misogyny, symbolism, and his utterly fluid and subjective sequences of events. His works bore intense scrutiny in their time, but have since been recognized for the prodigious influence they exhibited not only in the Naturalist and Expressionist genres, but on modern theatre as a whole. His catalogue includes over sixty plays and more than thirty works of fiction. This collection includes: "Comrades", "Facing Death", "Pariah", or "The Outcast, Easter", "The Father", "Miss Julie", "The Outlaw", "The Stronger", "The Dance of Death", "A Dream Play", and "The Ghost Sonata".