The Father (Strindberg play)
The Father (Swedish: Fadren) is a naturalistic tragedy by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, written in 1887. It is about the struggle between parents over the future of their child; resulting in the mother, using her cunning manipulative skills, subduing and finally destroying the father.
Plot
Captain Adolph, an officer of the cavalry, and his wife, Laura, have a disagreement regarding the education of their daughter Bertha. Laura wants her to stay at home and become an artist, while Adolph wants Bertha to move into town and study to be a teacher. Adolph says that his decision is final, and that the law supports him, because, he points out, the woman sells her rights when she agrees to be married. The argument grows and becomes fierce.
Laura, cunning & manipulative, suggests that Adolph may in fact have no rights in the matter. Laura lies to the family doctor that Adolph may be mad, because, as an amateur scientist, he thinks he has discovered life on another planet by looking through a microscope. Adolph in fact has discovered signs of organic life by studying meteorites through a spectroscope. Laura also reveals to the doctor that she has obtained a letter that Adolph once wrote confessing that he himself feared he might go mad.
Trapped in Laura's web of manipulation, Adolph becomes frustrated and responds with violence — he throws a burning lamp in the direction of his wife as she exits. The moment he does that, he is sunk. He realizes that Laura has cunningly provoked him to commit this irrational act, which then becomes the pretext for having him committed. While waiting for the straitjacket to arrive, the pastor tells Laura she is incredibly strong. "Let me see your hand! Not one incriminating spot of blood to give you away!" he says, "One little innocent murder that the law can't touch; an unconscious crime!"[1] In a scene of intense emotional pathos, it is Margaret, the captain's old nurse, who cajoles the captain, who indeed has now been driven mad, into a straitjacket. Laura is presented as having a stronger will than her husband, who says to her: "You could hypnotize me when I was wide awake, so that I neither saw nor heard, only obeyed." As the captain suffers a stroke and dies, Bertha rushes to her mother, who exclaims, "My child! My own child!" as the pastor says, "Amen".[2][3]
Themes
This play expresses a recurrent theme in some Strindberg Naturalism: Laws and culture may influence the dynamics of men and women within their various social contracts. The play uncovers the inevitable struggle for legacy and power between the human sexes.
Production background
Strindberg was aware of the literary discussions regarding what constituted naturalism in drama, and particularly the theory of
In an essay "Psychic Murder", written just after "The Father" was completed, Strindberg discusses Henrik Ibsen’s play Rosmersholm, and suggests how Ibsen might have handled Rebecca West’s "psychic murder" of Mrs. Rosmer, which Ibsen doesn't describe. It might be affected, according to Strindberg, by planting jealousy in Mrs. Rosmer's mind, the way Iago did to Othello. He then goes on to describe the very same methods that Laura uses against the Captain in The Father. The use of psychological elements in Strindberg's play move it closer to Naturalism than Ibsen's play.[7] There is almost a Darwinian struggle between the two principals, and Darwin's theory is referenced in the play.
English-language productions
Warner Oland's 1912 Broadway production of The Father was the first performance of a Strindberg play in the United States.[8] Oland (who would later become famous for his portrayals of Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan in Hollywood films) translated, produced, and starred in the production, which met with mixed reviews and closed after 31 performances.[9] Raymond Massey directed and starred in a 1949 Broadway production, which also featured Grace Kelly in the role of Bertha.[10]
The play has been translated by Peter Watts (1958), Michael Meyer (1964), Harry G. Carlson (1981), Michael Robinson (1998), Gregory Motton (2000) and Laurie Slade (2012). The role of the Captain has been played in the West End by Michael Redgrave (1948), Wilfrid Lawson (1953) and Trevor Howard (1964).[11] The play was adapted by John Osborne in 1989 a production at the Royal National Theatre. Osborne described himself as "Strindberg's Man in England" who was determined to be "the keeper of that unpredictable flame".[12]
In 2016, Theatre for a New Audience produced David Greig's version of the play in rep with Thornton Wilder's adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House. Both plays were directed by Arin Arbus and starred John Douglas Thompson and Maggie Lacey.[13]
Foreign-language adaptation
In 2019 a thirty-five-year-old theater group of Calcutta, Ushneek, produced an adaptation of this Strindberg play in Bengali as "Babai". The adaptation of the play and its stage-direction has been done by Ishita Mukhopadhyay. The Captain which has been trans-created as a college teacher doing research in astrophysics is played by Debshankar Halder. The wife's role is played by Srijata Bhattacharjee while the Doctor is played by Subhashis Mukhopadhyay.
Film adaptation
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References
- ISBN 0-520-04698-6.
- ISBN 0-520-04698-6.
- ^ Lamm, Martin. Carlson, Harry G., translator/editor. August Strindberg. Benjamin Blom, Inc. 1971
- ISBN 0-520-04698-6.
- ISBN 0-520-04698-6.
- ISBN 0-8462-1729-5.
- ^ Lamm, Martin; Carlson, Harry G., translator/editor (1971). August Strindberg. Benjamin Blom, Inc. p. 205.
{{cite book}}
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mantle, Burns (14 April 1912). "The Father Introduces Strindberg to America". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. J1.
- ^ "August Strindberg in America". New York Times. 25 October 1931. p. X4.
- ^ "The Father: Opening Night Credits". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- ISBN 0-394-71698-1
- ^ Heilpern, John, John Osborne: A Patriot for Us, 2007, Random House, pp.446ff.
- ^ "A Doll's House & The Father". TFANA's 2015-2015 Season. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
External links
- The Father at Project Gutenberg
- The Father at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Father public domain audiobook at LibriVox