The Dream Play by August Strindberg

First-year DTS students tackle Strindberg's impossible play from 1900.
"In this play, the author has tried to imitate the disconnected but seemingly logical form of the dream. Anything may happen; everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist. On an insignificant background of reality, imagination designs and embroiders novel patterns; a medley of memories, experiences, free fancies, absurdities and improvisations.
The characters split, double, multiply, vanish, solidify, blur, clarify. But one consciousness reigns above them all – that of the dreamer. Before it there are no secrets, no incongruities, no scruples, no laws. There is neither judgement nor exoneration, but merely narration. And as the dream is mostly painful, rarely pleasant, a note of melancholy and of pity with all living things runs right through the rambling tale. Sleep, the liberator, plays often a dismal part, but when the pain is at its worst, the awakening comes and reconciles the sufferer with reality, which, however distressing it may be, nevertheless seems happy in comparison with the torments of the dream." August Strindberg

GRANARY THEATRE | Wednesday 13 - Sat 16 February at 8pm | €8 / €6

back to top | back to archive