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A Dream Play Ett Drömspel (1901/1907)

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)

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A Dream Play Ett Drömspel (1901/1907)

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  1. A Dream PlayEttDrömspel(1901/1907) Dramaturgy Presentation

  2. August Strindberg (1849 – 1912) • Experimentation of Form • Context: mental instability & Harriet Bosse • Spirituality and Dreams Intent?

  3. 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?

  4. Mental State • Mental instability • Hospitalized from 1894 through 1896 • Paranoia • People have called him • Psychotic • Narcissistic • Schizophrenic

  5. 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”

  6. 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

  7. 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.”

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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.”

  11. 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.”

  12. 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!”

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. Wiki http://adreamplaydramaturgy.wikispaces.com/Welcome

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