Mr. Bengt's Wife

By August Strindberg

Synopsis: Mr. Bengt's Wife by August Strindberg

First English translation by Malin Tybåhl and Laurence Carr

Mr. Bengt's Wife is the passionate story of Margit, an orphan and rebellious novice who breaks her convent vows to marry her "Knight", Lord Bengt, a wealthy landowner. Her husband's fortunes soo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lightwoodpress
• Release date: Oct 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781735441030

August Strindberg

August Stringberg was a novelist, poet, playwright, and painter, and is considered to be the father of modern Swedish literature, publishing the country’s first modern novel, The Red Room, in 1879. Strindberg was prolific, penning more than 90 works—including plays, novels, and non-fiction—over the course of his career. However, he is best-known for his dramatic works, many of which have been met with international acclaim, including The Father, Miss Julie (Miss Julia), Creditors, and A Dream Play. Strindberg died in 1912 following a short illness, but his work continues to inspire later playwrights and authors including Tennessee Williams, Maxim Gorky, and Eugene O’Neill.

Book preview

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Mr. Bengt’s

Wife

Herr Bengts Hustru

a five-act play with epilogue by

August Strindberg

Translated and adapted by

Malin Tybåhl & Laurence Carr

M. Tybåhl

[e-mail]

L. Carr

[e-mail]

Translation copyright 2016 and 2013 by the translators

Lightwood Press (Lightwoodpress.com)

First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

Copyright © 2016, 2023 by Laurence Carr and Malin Tybåhl

All rights reserved. No part of this publication protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher or translators.

Contact: Laurence Carr for information, readings or productions

www.carrwriter.com

Lightwoodpress.com

Cover design by Alicia Fox

Book design by Elizabeth Cline

ISBN 978-1-7354410-3-0

Special thanks to:

Sean Hardaway and Robert Greer

Mr. Bengt’s Wife by August Strindberg

Translated by Malin Tybåhl and Laurence Carr

First produced by The August Strindberg Repertory Theatre at the Gene Frankel Theatre, New York City, September 13- September 29, 2013

Robert Greer Producing Artistic Director; The production directed by Craig Baldwin

Words of Praise for Mr. Bengt’s Wife

"A Strindberg Rarity—Mr. Bengt’s Wife—An Answer to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House"

"Mr. Bengt’s Wife, in its American premiere (translated by Laurence Carr and Malin Tybåhl treated me to an insightful view of a master in his early development. A no-holes-barred tale of hysteria, gender expectations and personal redemption, it is a mirror opposite of the mature and organized Ibsen’s A Doll’s House…The play is still ground-breaking, one of the true classics of progressive theatre.

Mr. Bengt’s Wife is a delirious collection of scenes boasting a lyricism approaching madness, with a heightened Shakespearian influence running through its modern language. Bengt is a transitional piece, like one of a great composer finding his voice. And it is a glorious voice he is crafting.

The work is deeply emotional—ultimately leading toward a human conclusion. It has a stylized, episodic element to it, almost dream-like. Directed by Craig Baldwin, the piece was allowed to breathe, but always moved forward in its action. Kersti Bryan, well suited to the demanding role of Margit, never missed a beat, transforming herself from the high-flying, overly optimistic girl to the bitter and unforgiving wife and then back again, prompting us to ask if she is dangerously unstable or merely a multifaceted woman.

- Melody Breyer-Grell, The Huffington Post, 9/19/13

Praise for August Strindberg

I suppose the most accurate assessment of Strindberg that can be made as far as the United States is concerned is that he has served effectively for both dramatists and the rest of his American audience as a catalyst and a leavening force. That, I should think, should remind us that he is no mere cadaver on whom a handful of scholars feed but a living force who has much to give both in and out of the theatre.

- Walter Johnson, Strindberg and the American University. Page 72. Published in Strindberg and Modern Theatre by the Strindberg Society, Stockholm, Sweden, 1975.

Nothing is more crucial to an understanding of Strindberg than his conception of the great project and his work as a whole as a series of experiments.

- Evert Sprinchorn, The Zola of the Occult. Page 109. Published in Strindberg and Modern Theatre by the Strindberg Society, Stockholm, Sweden, 1975.

Synopsis: Mr. Bengt’s Wife by August Strindberg

First English translation by Malin Tybåhl and Laurence Carr

Mr. Bengt’s Wife is the passionate story of Margit, an orphan and rebellious novice who breaks her convent vows to marry her Knight, Lord Bengt, a wealthy landowner. Her husband’s fortunes soon dwindle, and she seeks her freedom from her approaching poverty. As her marriage dissolves. she is hotly pursued by the convent Priest, and a childhood friend who is now the Bailiff of the town. Her love/hate relationship with Bengt also continues, adding to Margit’s personal revolution with 19th century society’s view of women and the emerging feminist movement. Seeking to end her life, Margit finds herself a new woman, who will engage with men, women and society on her own terms. Mr. Bengt’s Wife is Strindberg’s rebuttal to Henrik Ibsen’s, A Doll’s House, interweaving scenes of realism and dreamscape into a powerful dramatic work from one of the masters of modernism.

Mr. Bengt’s Wife by August Strindberg, written in 1882 in 5 acts and an epilogue, a mix of realism, melodrama, dark comedy and dreamscape.

Characters

9 actors: 4 m, 5f

The casting can be flexible with doubling. (6-9 actors can be used.)

Mr. Bengt, a landowner and retired cavalry officer

Margit, Mr. Bengt’s Wife

Sister Metta, a novice at the abbey

The