A Dream Play

A Dream Play (Swedish: Ett drömspel) was written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright, August Strindberg, and first performed in Stockholm on April 17, 1907. It remains one of Strindberg's most admired and influential dramas, seen as an important precursor to both dramatic expressionism and surrealism.


The best description of the play's style can be found in Strindberg's prefatory note:

The characters split, double, multiply, evaporate, condense, dissolve and merge. But one consciousness rules them all: the dreamer's; for him there are no secrets, no inconsistencies, no scruples and no laws. He does not judge or acquit, he merely relates; and because a dream is usually painful rather than pleasant, a tone of melancholy and compassion for all living creatures permeates the rambling narrative.

I got to know this play, because of Ingmar Bergman. I'm reading his memoirs The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography. Ingmar Bergman was a big fan of Strindberg and directed many of Strindberg's plays. As a fan of Bergman, I think it's necessary to read some Strindberg's works.

I have never seen any play in performance. I've read some other plays by Shakespeare, and don't really understand Shakespearean language. Even though this play was written about 100 years ago, I can understand it pretty well. And it's a damn good play. I don't know how to use pretty words to describe what's great about this play, so I guess I will quote some words here. I will try if I could actually see how this play is performed.

The world, life and human beings are only an illusion, a phantom, a dream image.

Happiness consumes itself like a flame. It cannot burn for ever, it must go out, and the presentiment of its end destroys it at its very peak.

In the moment of goodbye,
When one must be parted from a friend, a place,
How suddenly great the loss of what one loved,
Regret for what one shattered.
One even misses what one did not value.
One even regrets crimes one did not commit.
One wants to go, and one wants to stay.
The twin halves of the heart are wrenched asunder
And one is torn as between raging horses
Of contradictions, irresolution, discord...