A Dream Play

Written by August Strindberg

Narrated by LibriVox Community

A Dream Play (Swedish: Ett drömspel) was written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg's most admired and influential dramas, seen as an important precursor to both dramatic Expressionism and Surrealism. The primary character in the play is Agnes, a daughter of the Vedic god Indra. She descends to Earth to bear witness to problems of human beings. She meets about 40 characters, some of them having a clearly symbolical value (such as four deans representing theology, philosophy, medicine, and law). After experiencing all sorts of human suffering (for example poverty, cruelty, and the routine of family life), the daughter of gods realizes that human beings are to be pitied. - Summary by Wikipedia

Cast List:
The Daughter of Indra (Agnes); Voice of the Women (+ All); The Crew: Amanda Friday
The Officer (+All in III): Ron Altman
The Lawyer; All Right-Minded: Chuck Williamson
The Poet: Lucy Perry
The Voice of Indra: om123
The Glazier; Voice of the Men, Tenor and Bass (+All); The Crew: alanmapstone
The Father; He (+All); The Second Coalheaver; Dean of Philosophy: ToddHW
The Mother: Margaret Espaillat
Lena: Rebecca Braunert-Plunkett
The Portress; The Wife; The Gentleman: CaprishaPage
The Billposter: EccentricOwl
Victoria (also "A Woman's Voice from Above"); She (+All): Elizabeth Klett
The Ballet Girl; Voice of the Children (+All); The Crew: Frances Brown
The Male Chorus Singer; The Boy (+All the Boys): Libby Gohn
The Prompter; The Blind Man (+All): Mary J
The Policeman; The Husband; Dean of Jurisprudence: Arnaldo Machado
Christine; The First Coalheaver: KHand
The Master of Quarantine (+All in Act II): Zachary Brewster-Geisz
The Pensioner (+ All); The Naval Officer; Dean of Theology: Prachi Pendse
The Maids; The Lady; Don Juan: WoollyBee
Edith; Dean of Medicine: Anna Simon
The Teacher: Savannah
Lord Chancellor: Josh Kirsh
Narrator: Sarah Terry

Edited by Chuck Williamson

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

August Strindberg

Renowned Swedish writer, playwright and painter August Strindberg is known as one of the fathers of modern theatre. Born in Sweden in 1849, August Strindberg was raised in poverty. A multi-faceted artist given to extremes, he battled depression and emotional turmoils throughout his life. Strindberg was actively involved in the trade union movement and was especially admired by the working class of his time as a radical writer who zealously attacked social ills and hypocrisies in his work. After Strindberg was overlooked by the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1909, a grass-roots petition campaign was launched in protest, which resulted in a large sum of money raised to compensate the cherished writer. Strindberg’s early plays were written in the Naturalistic style, the best known of which is Miss Julie, one of the most studied and performed dramas in the world to this day. When he broke with Naturalism, the versatile Strindberg found equal success in producing works informed by Symbolism. He proceeded to become one of the pioneers of the modern European stage and Expressionism. Strindberg’s most engaging dramas deal with the constant and consuming battle for power between the sexes, bound together in perverse and complex relationships in which desire is mingled with scorn, and negotiated within the strictures imposed on class and gender roles by social conventions. Strindberg continued to write of the alienated modern man, who is desperate and alone in a forsaken universe, until his death in 1912.