The Father (Strindberg play)
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''The Father'' ( sv, Fadren) is a naturalistic
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
by
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
playwright
August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
, 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!" 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".


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. At the time the play was written, Strindberg's marriage was deteriorating with his wife
Siri von Essen Sigrid "Siri" Sofia Matilda Elisabet von Essen (17 August 1850 – 21 April 1912) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish noblewoman and actress. Her acting career spanned about 15 years, during which time she appeared in a number of plays that the Sw ...
, and situations in the play could have very loosely resembled situations occurring in his failing marriage. Different religions, Methodist, Baptist, and an occult spiritualism, exist in the household and vie for Bertha's acceptance. There are also references in the play to
Greek Mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
and Shakespeare's ''
Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as a ...
'' and ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''.


Production background

Strindberg was aware of the literary discussions regarding what constituted naturalism in drama, and particularly the theory of
Emile Zola Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...
, who was naturalism’s chief proponent. Zola felt that the naturalistic playwright should observe life very carefully, and render it in a documentary fashion. In creating character the playwright should be scientific and show that character is determined by heredity and environment. And the playwright should apply understanding of psychology and physiology. Sets and costumes should be realistic, and the long expositions and complicated intrigues of romances and the "well-made play" should be avoided. Zola felt that the French drama had not achieved true naturalism, and Strindberg felt challenged to succeed where others had not. Because of blasphemous comments, Strindberg found it hard for his work to be published and produced in Sweden. This play was the first Strindberg play to be produced outside of Scandinavia, in Berlin in 1890. ''The Father'' marked a turning point for Strindberg, as he went to a style of writing he deemed "artistic-psychological writing". In an essay "Psychic Murder", written just after "The Father" was completed, Strindberg discusses Henrik Ibsen’s play ''
Rosmersholm ''Rosmersholm'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Danish—the common written language of Denmark and Norway at the time—and originally published in 1886 in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. ''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 Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...
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. There is almost a Darwinian struggle between the two principals, and Darwin's theory is referenced in the play.


English-language productions

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...
's 1912 Broadway production of ''The Father'' was the first performance of a Strindberg play in the United States. Oland (who would later become famous for his portrayals of
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and
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in Hollywood films) translated, produced, and starred in the production, which met with mixed reviews and closed after 31 performances. Raymond Massey directed and starred in a 1949 Broadway production, which also featured
Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...
in the role of Bertha. 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 Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...
(1948), Wilfrid Lawson (1953) and
Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
(1964). 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". In 2016, Theatre for a New Audience produced David Greig's version of the play in rep with
Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...
's adaptation of Ibsen's ''
A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...
''. Both plays were directed by Arin Arbus and starred
John Douglas Thompson John Douglas Thompson (born 1964) is an English Americans, English-American actor. He is a Tony Awards, Tony Award nominee and the recipient of two Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Lucille Lortel Awards, Lu ...
and Maggie Lacey.


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

A
Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
film based on the play, '' Pita'' was made in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
. The film was directed by acclaimed Indian filmmaker Govind Nihalani.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Father, The 1887 plays Plays by August Strindberg Swedish plays adapted into films Plays set in Sweden Plays set in the 19th century Tragedy plays