A Dream Play Strindberg
In Strindberg’s A Dream Play, written in 1901, characters merge into each other, locations change in an instant and a locked door becomes an obsessively recurrent image. As Strindberg himself wrote in his Preface, he wanted “to imitate the disjointed yet seemingly logical shape of a dream. A Dream Play by August Strindberg (adapted by Thomas R. Gordon) - Full Show. Hans Teeuwen - Meisje en de 7 turken - Hard en Zielig. Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based on an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.It premiered in London in 1998 at the National Theatre, running for more than 300 performances, starring David Burke (Niels Bohr), Sara Kestelman (Margrethe Bohr), and Matthew Marsh (Werner Heisenberg).
Post by Ari Mazur-Mathieu and Patrick Little
The Arts Canterbury High School Drama Program’s graduating class will be performing Michael Meyer’s translation/adaptation of ADream Play by August Strindberg.
A Dream Play follows the daughter of a god (played by three actresses throughout the show: Sarah Olberg, Sydney Smith, Kenna Jacobs) as she descends from the heavens to empathize with humans. She witnesses the love, cruelty, pain, and passion that rides tandem with human life and punctuates each bout of suffering she witnesses with the words: “Alas For Mankind”. However, characters present such as the poet (Ari Mazur-Mathieu)and the officer (Logan Toll) argue that human life is ultimately positive, with hope shining throughout despite the suffering in the world.
I spoke over the phone (individually) to a few members of the cast about their interpretation of the show and their experience with the process. Beside each of their names is their production role, then the role which they play in the show.
Their answers have been edited for length.
Apt613: What were your thoughts going into the process?
Sydney Smith (Publicity, the second daughter): I was really excited, I had been looking forward to my grad show since I had seen my brother’s three years ago. The idea of all of us as students putting on something of our own, (with the guidance of our director Ms. Knight), was very intriguing. Early on we were looking for scripts to pitch to the class and I remember finding A Dream Play and Ms. Knight telling me that every year someone pitches it but it’s always dismissed as too hard or weird. Everyone really wanted to try it though and so we did. It was daunting but so many people have put their heart and soul into it with their analysis and technical knowledge, it’s very special.
Logan Toll (Lighting designer, the Officer): I thought the script was really interesting, I was admittedly a little bit concerned just because the language of the show is not really how people talk anymore, it’s very old timey language, not quite Shakespeare but in that vein almost. I was concerned that our understanding of the dialogue wouldn’t be enough to convey it in a way that’s interesting so I was concerned the show would end up being boring. But now I feel different, we all understand what we want to say with the show and it’s going really well.
Photo by Vera Cross
What does this show mean to you and how is it relevant to today?
Charlotte Scott-Frater (Ugly Edith, Producer): I think sort of the idea that life is really hard right? For her in the show [the Daughter] that’s one of the big things she comes up against: people suffer all the time for reasons that seem stupid or silly and they make themselves miserable and we make each other miserable, but, we’re still hopeful and that’s what’s relevant. Frankly, the world is not a fun place to be right now in a lot of ways but we’re still hopeful, there’s still cause to hope and even if it’s over the smallest thing, like in the play when the Officer sees his love for the first time, it’s enough.
Stefan Vidovic (The Glazier, Producer): The script is dark, that’s how it was written and it would be very easy to give a pessimistic lens to the narrative, so I’m glad that we’ve taken a hopeful approach to our interpretation of the story. We’re not just mourning for humankind; we’re not just going “Oh woe is me!”. I do think it’s very important to acknowledge the difficulty that people go through in life, but I don’t believe it’s productive to say that the world is hopeless. I’m glad that we’re acknowledging that good AND bad exist, and that sometimes good can come from bad etc… It’s just more realistic.
It’s clear that this show has a great deal of ambition, but admittedly it is a show produced by a high school. Can you speak to the limitations or biases which come with the high school theatre label?
Sarah Olberg (hair/makeup and costumes,The first Daughter): I don’t think people have a lot of faith in high school students, which is unfortunate since I think you can find great talent in this age group. If you saw Concord Floral at the NAC recently that much is obvious.
A Dream Play August Strindberg Summary
SV: I think it’s important to recognize that theatre is theatre regardless of who it’s produced by. It doesn’t matter what the source is because everyone has a valid voice or opinion they want to express on stage. So when you see high school shows as something only for parents you’re losing an opportunity to see how young people think and view the world. In the end, for me, theatre isn’t really about performances or spectacle. It’s about a voice.
A Dream Play runs until Saturday, April 30th, 2016 in the Barrie Alexander auditorium at Canterbury High School. The show will begin at 7:00PM and includes a brief intermission where baked goods/refreshments will be sold.
A Dream Play By Strindberg
Tickets are $8 for students/seniors and $12 for adults. To reserve tickets please email chs.dreamplay@gmail.comwith your name, ticket class (i.e. adult, student, and senior), the date you wish to attend, and the number of tickets you wish to reserve. The tickets will be available at the door under your name. Tickets can also be purchased at the door, permitted there are seats left.
Learn more about the production on Facebook and Instagram.