A Dream Play

Ett Drömspel(1901/1907)Dramaturgy Presentation

August Strindberg (1849 – 1912)

Experimentation of Form

Context: mental instability & Harriet Bosse

Spirituality and Dreams

Intent?

Forms Naturalism (Miss Julie, The Father) Chamber plays (The Ghost Sonata) Dream plays (Damascus, A Dream Play) History plays (Erik XIV)

In the late 1890s, Strindberg rejects the “well-made” play. . . Why?

Mental StateMental instabilityHospitalized from 1894 through

1896Paranoia People have called him

Psychotic Narcissistic Schizophrenic

Harriet Bosse(1901 – 1903)

She visited him in his dreams; he said she “possessed” him

Bosse leaves for “40” days

“I am tortured by the thought of all the suffering I have caused you.”

“the child of my greatest pain”

At the same time: Interests in the occult, mysticism,

science, hypnosis, and alchemy Interest in Eastern philosophy Interest in music and musical

structure“Disciple” of Emmanuel Swedenborg

Strindberg on A Dream Play “Am reading about the teachings of Indian

religion. The whole world is but a semblance . . . Love is sin; therefore the pangs of love are the greatest hell”

“The world has thus come into existence only through a sin – if indeed it exists at all – for it is really only a mirage (consequently my Dream Play is an image of life), a phantom, and it is the task of asceticism to destroy it.”

Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

Christian mystic and scientist

at the age of 56, he goes through a psycho-religious crisis

Some thought him a madman, while others thought he was a powerful spiritual seer

Swedenborg 101 Love is the source of life & essence of

God Suffering and Salvation Spirit & Material Worlds Coexist Signs & Spirituality One can expand awareness of one’s

spiritual reality through dream exploration

Strindberg on Spirituality Similarity between the dream and the

“disorderly life” which is woven by “The World Weaver”

“What has saved my soul from darkness is my Religion. The hope of a better life to come, and the firm conviction that we live in a world of folly and delusion (illusion), out of which we must struggle to free ourselves.”

Strindberg on Suffering: Strindberg later writes that since he was

born under the sign of the Ram, he represents the Sacrifice chosen by God, and that everything that happens to him is designed by Divinity and is meant to educate him.

Devastation: “persecution is a gift from God, a trial leading to salvation.”

On Seeing Signs?“If I see my pillow taking on human

shapes, then those shapes are there, and if someone says that they are only generated by my

imagination, I’ll reply: ‘Only,’ you say? – What my inner eye sees, is

more to me!”

A Dream Play Dreams are more real than reality Dreams are a way to access the spiritual

plane The material world is “counterfeit” “Life is indescribably ugly” The dream represents the pain and

suffering of mortal life (“tormenting dream”)

Release through death/salvation

Intention? Mental instability played a part Obsession with morbidity An apology to Bosse? Explore dreams and spirituality Share his thoughts on pain & suffering Theatrical experimentation

Wikihttp://adreamplaydramaturgy.wikispaces.com/Welcome