Three Plays

by August Strindberg, Peter Watts (Translator)

Passionate and powerful, the three plays collected together in this volume represent August Strindburge (1849-1912) at his best, 'The Father', 'Miss Julia', and the more mystical 'Easter.' In all three plays, Strindberg combines acute psychological analysis with total mastery of the power to create unforgettable dramas of human life and love.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Classics, Literature, 19th Century, Theatre

175 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 1958

About the author

Johan August Strindberg, a Swede, wrote psychological realism of noted novels and plays, including Miss Julie (1888) and The Dance of Death (1901).

Johan August Strindberg painted. He alongside Henrik Ibsen, Søren Kierkegaard, Selma Lagerlöf, Hans Christian Andersen, and Snorri Sturluson arguably most influenced of all famous Scandinavian authors. People know this father of modern theatre. His work falls into major literary movements of naturalism and expressionism. People widely read him internationally to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_...

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction

--The Father
--Miss Julia
--Easter

[Harris Walker]

rating and review to come

[Karl Hallbjörnsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre and quite uninteresting. Wouldn't recommend.

[وائل المنعم · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to express my admiration and appreciation to Peter Watts who got the favor of let me konw very well both Strindberg and Ibsen.

I think Miss Julia is the best play in this collection, In both the father and Easter Strindberg was very close to Ibsen, So both plays weren't the ones that make his unique character and artistic style and importance none the less both are a very good plays.

My reviews about the plays are here

[Abir · Rating 4 out of 5]

دراما رائعة ،قام بتجسيدها فى السينما محمود ياسين ونيللى ،محمود اسين ادى الدور ببراعة ولكن المشكلة كانت فى عملية التمصير للرواية

[Marc-Antoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

****

[Katarzyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heady mixture of sex, class and lacanian psychoanalysis. Full understanding of this play is for me the equivalent of the adult test. I wish Miss Julia would take a razorblade upstairs to the Count bedroom.

[Leanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read plays, I usually get bored after the second page, but these three actually kept my interest throughout the entire book. My favorite thing about them were the unique characters. They really added to the storyline.

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do words save or destroy us? How deep can our hatred and fear run? What does it take to rescue a family that is about to fall apart? With little doses of madness, mind-games, and suffering, Strindberg aims to answer these questions in this volume of plays.

[Meilinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

a nice companion during christmas holiday, thanks sebastian!

[Sjonni]

I saw this play when I was still a child. The book has been on a shelf for years. The state of my Swedish is trully "löjlig" but I'll get through it.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better the second time around. Of the three plays "The Father" is far and away the best. I can see why he was rated a better playwright that Ibsen, much as I love Ibsen.

[Elizabeth]

same plays

no isbn
different cover
right pages

[محمد عبادة · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember (The Father) in particular as a source of so many adaptations in cinema and otherwise .. I believe I need to re-read it ..

[Janakap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proof that insanity and genius are beautiful.

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes you realise how relatively cheerful Wallander is...

[Talia Gokyildirim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading The Father and Easter but I’m not sure about Miss Julia

[Rick Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Introduction to this small collection provides some necessary information about Strindberg which really sheds some light on his plays. Bottom line: the man was more than two-thirds insane. He was incredibly self-destructive and found ways to sabotage his own happiness, which is pretty much what happens to his characters, one after another. His most famous from this set, Miss Julia is representative of this inability to acquire happiness, in that the title character is desperate for some sort of human connection and confuses sex with fulfillment. The fact that she hooks up with Jean, the young man from the servant class who aspires to rise, and she is herself a falling (and now fallen) woman from the master class makes this unavoidably a social commentary. Unfortunately, the commentary is a single line: there is no nobility to be found anywhere. When Jean sends Julia out to her death in the last lines of the play, there is no sense of redemption at all; she is merely extinguishing herself. I couldn't help but think of Ibsen's Rosmersholm, in which Rosmer and Rebecca's mutual suicide rises almost to the level of apotheosis. Again, the Introduction provides the sordid detail that Strindberg was extremely jealous of Ibsen and sought to pull down his rival's reputation when he could, in spite of Ibsen's gracious attitude towards him in return. That seems somehow revelatory of their relative--here is the word again--nobility, in terms of their own lives and their body of work. The Father, the first of Strindberg's plays here, is almost the opposite of noble in its characters, especially that of Laura, who is really a fiend, monstrously resolute and cunning in her ability to utterly destroy the Captain. Again again, the Introduction adds the insight that Strindberg was going through a messy divorce from Siri von Essen at the time he wrote this play, and the vitriol comes through. The final play, Easter, is much more upbeat than the other two, concluding with the god-like figure of Mercy and Justice (and an almost uncanny knowledge of everything that has transpired in the earlier acts), Lindkvist, providing the opportunity for redemption to everyone in the Heyst household. There is a distinct impression that Strindberg is adopting something of a persona here, a kinder and gentler playwright who can present this in the spirit of greater nobility.

[Rv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall some interesting moments, each play deals with the opposition of man and woman which was a huge part of Strindburg's life. Also cool to read plays that kicked off "naturalism" in theater and to track the influence on O'Neill, Miller, etc.

The Father (4/5) - My personal favorite, the dialogue of a husband and wife at odds felt very sharp and biting.

Miss Julia (2.5/5) - Deals with a tryst between an upper class woman and her servant. The tragedy felt shoehorned at the end, but then again I'm not living in the mid-1800s so the cultural impact may have been lost on me.

Easter (3/5) - A quaint play about the reunion of a family, written during a more peaceful time in Strindburg's life than the first two plays.

[Carolina Morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Julia is an essay about (the lack of) the proper place of a well born, groomed lady into the burgoisie genteel society. The manifestation of sensual desire, free will, pre marital sex, all is put into display in the plot.

The answer is given to Miss Julia in the form of a razor blade. The proper place to such aspirations is buried into a grave.

[Gustav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antecknar lite sent här och minns inte exakt mer än att jag tyckte att det kändes mer tilltalande än Ibsen, fast fortfarande lite tillgjort och kanske lite övertydligt i vilka poänger Strindberg försöker göra.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good translation of Miss Julie.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Miss Julia, but didn't particularly care for The Father or Easter.

[Siva Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rating is for Miss Julie/Miss Julia alone and not for all the 3 plays.

[Muskan Saxena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I liked all the three plays,the most impactful was "Easter". J fell in love with Eleanora and realised that there are a lot of Elis in our real life.

[Sarah Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miss Julia was the star of this collection for me

[Sidas Ivanovas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Father - 3 stars
Miss Julia - 4 stars
Easter - 5 stars
😃😀👍😄

[Vika · Rating 4 out of 5]

freud for the 19th century nordic stage

[Literati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three excellent plays, all full of turn of the century melancholia

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is when I appreciate my age! So happy to be done with the shenanigans of the young.

Read this as part of my reading list of Yann Martel’s recommended reading list to our ex prime minister ( Canada).
It is an absolute joy ride.
I totally agree with Yann Martel - he motivates every book as to why it should be read - that August Strindberg writes completely effortless. What comes first - the effortless writing or the incredibly easy to read?
Getting to learn so much other angles than when you select your own reading material. Reading each book and reading the notes on that book ( by Yann Martel) before and often after is just the best experience ever.