Dödsdansen

by August Strindberg

Ett av de stora mästerverken i Strindbergs produktion

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Scandinavian Literature, Classics, Fiction, Sweden

263 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1900

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

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Night. An apartment near Marble Arch. From outside, sounds of Muslims celebrating Ramadan; the restaurants are just beginning to fill up. NOT is sitting at a table typing on a laptop, while MANNY lies on a couch reading a slim paperback book. He closes it, puts it down next to him, and stares into space]

NOT: What are you thinking about?

MANNY: Strindberg's Dödsdansen. You know, I'm kind of disappointed. Bergman talks about it in Laterna Magica as though it were a masterpiece, but I thought it was melodramatic and poorly written. Even if it has some interesting things to say about dysfunctional relationships.

NOT: Well, it's not performed much any more.

MANNY: No, no! We're doing a parody review! You're supposed to disagree violently!

NOT: Like how?

MANNY: Oh, I don't know, you could scornfully ask if my Swedish is good enough to be able to evaluate the quality of the language. And add that I know nothing about theater.

NOT: Well, it's true, you haven't seen much theater.

MANNY: Not like that! You need to fling insults at me! And use more exclamation points!

NOT: Okay, you haven't seen much fucking theater!

MANNY: It's still no good! You forgot to denigrate my knowledge of Swedish! And you didn't insult me enough!

NOT: This is stupid.

MANNY: Come on! We need a bitter quarrel where we say unforgivable things to each other! With yelling and screaming and some physical violence! And exclamation points! Otherwise I won't get enough votes!

NOT: I'm fucking tired of being in your review. If you want to do this kind of fucking shit you can fuck off back to your ex-wife.

MANNY: Hey, that wasn't bad. You're getting the hang of it already.

[AiK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Пьеса о двух постоянно ругающихся, отравляющих жизнь друг другу супругах, чья единственная цель – ударить друга друга побольнее, но при этом, каждый норовит получить свою толику выгоды. Они манипулируют друг другом, изворачиваются и лгут, обвиняют и угрожают. Их жизнь – кромешный ад. С моей точки зрения, все-таки Эдгар виноват больше, поскольку зачинщик всегда он. Вина Алис в том, что она не пропускает ни одного его слова, и всегда отвечает тем же. А с другой стороны, с таким хамом возможно ли иначе? Это энергетический вампир, у которого в запасе тысяча способов отравить жене и окружающим жизнь. В жизни такие типажи встречаются, и увы, нередко. Эти люди считают себя центром мироздания, они считают возможным самостоятельно оценивать, платить или не платить за услуги врача или любого другого специалиста, к чьим услугам прибегают, и, конечно, у них заготовлены аргументы, чтобы не платить. Такие люди выгоняют людей, которые на них работают, без малейших оснований. Они считают себя правыми априори, это скандалисты, подавляющие просто своим присутствием. Пьеса прекрасно раскрывает механизм домашних ссор, особенно с привлечением третьего лица, которого обе ссорящиеся стороны настраивают друг против друга, которым умело манипулируют, добиваясь своих целей.

[sAmAnE · Rating 3 out of 5]

به نظرم یکی از نمایشنامه‌های خوبی بود که خیلی دیده نشده...

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dance of Death is a text about conjugal imprisonment and the lack of perspectives marriage generates as a counterpoint to individual freedom. It is a play about the fear of the beast within each of us and unhappiness. It analytically explores, in a psychic sense, the intricacies of male/female power relations—a real civil war.

[Moshtagh hosein · Rating 3 out of 5]

ترجمه شده توسط پرویز همتیان بروجنی
رقص مرگ،دغدغه‌های دهنی و برداشت نویسنده از مسائل اساسی زندگی مثل مرگ،جهان بعد از مرگ،و عشق و نفرت با بیانی شیوا و طناز کوبنده و هولناک و به شکلی زیبا نمایش داده می‌شود.استفاده نویسنده از نمادهایی چون آشامیدن خون برای استحاله انسانها و شیوه ارائه اکسپرسیونیستی با وقوع فاجعه در گویش کرکترها،نمایشنامه را زیبا و خواننده را تا انتها همراه خود می‌برد.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans la première partie de "La danse de la mort', on trouve Strindberg au sommet de son art. La deuxième partie, écrite quelques mois après la première est risible.

Ce qui est les plus étonnant est que cette pièce bizarre marche à merveil sur la scène. J'ai vu une repésentation il y a quarante ans qui était superbe. Des comédiens doués et une mise en scènce intelligente a réussi à bien masquer les défauts graves de "La danse de mort" qui sautent aux yeux du lecteur de la page imprimée.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From TIA:
For twenty-five years Edgar, a captain in the Swedish coast artillery, and his wife, Alice, live an unhappy existence. Their unhappiness is caused by Edgar’s contempt for everyone else in the world; he thinks of himself as a better being than others, even his wife, and he makes their marriage a tyranny. They live on an island off the coast, where Edgar is the commanding officer of the artillery detachment. Living in an old prison, they avoid the other people of the island as well as officers of the post and their wives. Indeed, Alice is virtually a prisoner in her home. The only means of communication she has with the mainland is through a telegraph key, which she teaches herself to operate. She keeps her skill with the telegraph a secret, for her husband does not want her to have any means of communication with the outside world.

Alice’s only hope of release from her husband’s tyranny lies in the fact that he is ill and might die at any time. On their silver wedding anniversary, Curt, Alice’s cousin, arrives on the island to officiate as the quarantine officer. On his first visit to Edgar and Alice he learns about the life that they lead, when Edgar suffers an attack and Alice gloats over her husband’s illness. Curt, who was divorced by his wife, also learns that Edgar caused the divorce and persuaded the court to award the custody of the children to Curt’s wife.

During the two days that Edgar is ill, grave changes take place in the three people. Alice turns gray-haired. Feeling that the time has come when she should admit her age, she stops tinting her hair. She also becomes an object of distrust to Curt, for she tries to make love to her cousin while her husband is ill. Curt, unable to understand her actions, cannot fully realize how much she hates her husband and how much she suffered during the past twenty-five years. Edgar himself resembles a corpse after his illness, but he immediately tries, upon his recovery, to dominate the others.

On the third day after his attack the captain tells his wife he is going to divorce her. In retaliation, she tries to have him convicted of the embezzlement of government funds, of which he is innocent. She also embraces her cousin Curt in her husband’s presence, at which time Edgar tries to kill her with his saber. After that incident, both husband and wife become calm, admitting they tortured each other enough. They both say they hope that they can get along with each other peaceably, if not happily.

A few months later Curt’s son Allan, a cadet stationed with Edgar’s artillery company,...

https://archive.org/details/DanceOfDe...

[Bakunin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first play I directed (so obviously I have a close relationship to the text).
Like his other plays - Fordringsägare (the creditors), Fröken Julie (Miss Julie) - the dance of death is a triangle drama, revolving around a married couple and a stranger from their past. For an aspiring director and playwright such as myself this was a great piece to start with seeing as how Strindberg uses every technique in the book to dramatize the relationship between the three characters.
Strindberg, unlike Ibsen, lets his play focus on the psychological struggle between the main characters, and not on as much on the society which they inhabit (thereby paving way for future dramatists such as Eugene O'neill, Harold Pinter and Arthur Miller).

I would recommend the play to anyone who is interested in the literature from that time period.

[Patdmac7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

You must never forget how to laugh. ... Life is boring enough without it. 16

But while the mechanism functions, you have to kick and fight with hands ad feet as long as there is life in you! 23

And that we should have to grow old! It is no fun, but it is interesting. 25

If you will stop asking who is to blame, it will help to ease your mind. Try to look upon it as a fact, a trial, which must be borne. 30

Alice - there are times when it may be a duty not to tell everything, not to see everything. This is what we call tolerance, or forbearance. It is something we all need. 51

You know, there are rude women who like timid, bashful men--just as you may find shy men who are partial to rude, overpowering women. 61

A curious world! You commit the shameful act, and he has to bear the shame of it! 65

I don't believe any man has suffered so many humiliations as I have. But when I blotted them out, and kept on going, they ceased to exist. 67

You see, I am approaching the age when sensible people acknowledge that they know nothing, understand nothing. But whenever I see anything being done, I want to know the reason for it. 69

Just think of how banal life of today is! In olden days people fought; today people only shake a fist at you! 74

Yes, my child, we cry one day, and the next we laugh. ... And don't ask me which is the best for us. 74

People will be laughing at us, but what do we care! We'll laugh along with them; or we'll keep a straight face--whichever suits us best. 75

Stop fretting, and just do what you have to do--do the correct thing, and leave others to take care of their own affairs. 83

-How sharp your wits become when you hate.
-And dulled when in love. Love both blinds and dulls. 91

He has stability of character. And that is something we need all too often ... (With emphasis.) ... strength to bear up under adversities; in a word, to endure, to suffer. 99

If you only knew how beautiful you are this moment! If you could only see yourself! 114

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I've never been able to figure out whether life is serious or just a joke. When it's a joke it can be most painful, when it's serious it can be quite tranquil and pleasant."

In The Dance of Death, a Captain and his wife Alice are closing in upon their 25th wedding anniversary. Their marriage, however, is not exactly happy (which is putting it very mildly). They live inside the degenerating round tower of a granite fortress, on an island nicknamed 'Little Hell' – socially isolated not simply due to their location, but also because of the pugnacious character of the Captain, to whom virtually everyone is an enemy. The action of the play unfolds as Kurt, Alice's cousin, arrives in the capacity of 'Quarantine Master' (some kind of plague, probably cholera, looms over the island). After having been involved in the couple's courtship, Kurt will witness the immense unhappiness – hell – in which the couple has come to live, play an active part in some of its misery, and ultimately leave it all behind again.

The suffocating setting and atmosphere reminded me of Camus's The Plague; and if that novel is bleak, it is cheerful in comparison to The Dance of Death. As with Strindberg's other plays, I admire the complexity of his characters and their motivation(s), and the almost dizzying focus of the play itself (there is barely any distraction from the psychological drama that transpires, in the form of side-story, background, etc., which gives the dialogue [where most of the action takes place] great force). It is also in this play that Strindberg most clearly – though subtly – uses the notion of life-as-a-dream, which lends it an eerie kind of unreality.

The theme of interpersonal torment – husband and wife terrorizing each other, individuals fighting against others and society in general – does at times rub roughly against my largely peace-loving and quietly romantic nature. But it works.

"Perhaps when death comes, life begins."

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A couple that drives each other mad." If someone asked me to sum up August Strindberg's The Dance of Death in a few words that would be my reply. And it could probably be my summary of many works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as well. If I found it a weaker Strindberg play that is only because I've already read The Father and Miss Julie, which are the superior works, and to which this play owes a great deal.

In my review of Miss Julie I wrote:

Many of the same themes employed in Strindberg's earlier play, The Father, are also at work in Miss Julie, though I think with greater effect in the previous work. Both plays can be characterized as "naturalistic tragedies." Both deal with social Darwinism. Both have the same socio-historical and mythical setting [Eden After the Fall]. In both it is easy to point to instances of the author's misogyny. Both deal with gender issues. . .

And the same comparisons can be made with these works and The Dance of Death, which is (as with most of Strindberg's work) probably at least semi-autobiographical, which takes place in the late-19th century and which is situated mythically in Eden After the Fall. And as the translator (Harry G. Carlson) notes in his introduction to this work, both this work and Miss Julie underscore Strindberg's fascination with "the spirit of fairy tales and the age of chivalry." He writes:

In Miss Julie the heroine dreams of being trapped in a high place and longing to get down. . . . In The Dance of Death tower and earth-as-prison images are fused. Alice feels trapped living with her husband, the Captain, in a military fortifications tower that once served as a prison, on an island called by its inhabitants 'Little Hell' [it reminded me of Karin's (Ingrid Bergman) experience in Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli or of the isolated life depicted in Ingmar Bergman's The Passion of Anna]. The Captain sarcastically describes their situation as 'Sir Bluebeard and the maiden in the tower. . . .

[W]hen Alice's cousin Kurt arrives at the prison tower, she sees him as her liberator. . . .

We wait for the rescuer until finally we discover that he is us. . . .Psychologically, the prison is childhood. One is liberated by overcoming childish fears and accepting grown-up responsibilities, the most important of which is to give and accept love. Put another way, the prisoner must want to be set free to love, just as the rescuer must have the courage to set love free in himself.

Carlson adds in closing that "In the case of Julie and Jean [in Miss Julie], neither prisoner nor rescuer measures up to the task." And the same could be said of the characters in The Dance of Death.

Strindberg (at least based on the first three of his plays that I've read) really reworked the same main themes and ideas over and again, and it could be said that, as Fellini has remarked of his films ("I feel that I am all the time making the same film"), that Strindberg was all the time writing the same play. And, as I've mentioned in my reviews of other works in which this is the case, the same could perhaps be said about the songs of certain songwriters and of the output of many filmmakers, visual artists and novelists (Balzac's Human Comedy, the world of Dickens, Fitzgerald's couples who ruin each other, Springsteen's class consciousness, the existential crises that plague many a main character in the films of Woody Allen).

Having read The Father, which came out in 1887, and then Miss Julie, which made its appearance in 1888, and now The Dance of Death (1900), one of the things I found most interesting was how Strindberg's style changed during that time, for although his themes remained more or less constant, with Miss Julie (as can be ascertained not only by reading the play itself but from Strindberg's lengthy preface to that work), Strindberg's style became much more revolutionary and experimental. One could really take the preface to that work and amend it slightly and put it at the start of The Dance of Death, as thematically they are so similar, and as in both Strindberg's main concern is with the psychological, but in Miss Julie Strindberg did away with act and scene changes and tried making the theatre seem less artificial and more realistic, and trying to hold the audience's attention without interruption. And in that earlier work he also gave some extremely precise set instructions, to ensure that when performed the set would be as realistic as possible and otherwise relying on the audience's imagination rather than presenting an artificial setting. In this play, such meticulous set details are missing and the play is divided into two parts (the second part coming out months after the first), each with two acts and with at least one act in each section also including a change of scene.

Unlike Miss Julie, and many of the plays that would follow this one, this is not a play that could be performed in one sitting. Part I of this play was written in September and had a somewhat happy and hopeful ending, unlike the two earlier plays to which I've compared this one. But in response to the reaction to this work, Strindberg wrote Part II rather hastily, and with what might be viewed as some errors in continuity. I feel that whereas Part I could really stand alone as a complete work in itself (as it seems was the original intent, making it more of a black comedy than a tragedy), Part II really needs the support of Part I and when combined makes the entire work more of a tragedy than a comedy (though, obviously, with several humorous elements).

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dance of Death is a play that I suspect takes influence from The Father, mainly in that it focuses on a marriage that is dysfunctional and corrosive. In this play, a man (Edgar) and a woman (Alice) are shown that have been married for 25 years, but have come to absolutely hate each other; the hatred has gone so far that they feel urges to kill each other. To me, this play is mainly an examination of that marriage and the psychology behind the hatred taking place. Netiher the husband or wife are completely to blame, but neither are to be commended, either. The husband is controlling of his wife; he doesn't allow her to see family, doesn't let her pursue her natural ability. The wife is also at fault; she is very cruel to her husband and wants to allow him to die because of his ailments.

I really enjoyed this play. I have said that Strindberg wrote a lot of mediocre plays, but I actually have found a few that work for me- this is one of them.

[BaSila Husnain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its quite autobiographical as far as the experience goes but the question of Strindberg's aesthetics in the dark humour, the development of characters which is as shifty as their relations to eachother. In the end I mean Strindberg kind of makes Captain's remark appear fairly true that ' Life is a hoax'
Although the form is in a transformation from naturalism to surrealism so there are places in the play where one is more dependent on the characters and plot rather than its impact and form. Cynicism without consolation, unlike a Dream Play , the captain dies , the young couple flee and Alice and curt are apparently free, but life still seems hoax at the end of the play as they conjoin love and hate.

[Sarah M. Adly · Rating 3 out of 5]

فلنصبر...فعندما يأتي الموت فربما تبدأ الحياة !!!!

هكذا تنتهي احداث مسرحية مؤلمة جدا و غريبة جدا عن زوج و زوجة تعيسان مع بعض و لكن لا يستطيعان الحياة بعيدان عن بعض..
مش قادرة و لا عارفة اميز ان كانت عجبتني او لا لكنها شدتني و اكتر ما لفت نظري هو روعة كاتب المسرحية سترندبيرج و قصة حياته اللي في اول الكتاب و شفت إزاي كانت طفولته قاسية القت به في الاخر في مستشفي الصحة نفسية و لكن شفت إزاي الألم ولد الفن ده كله عشان يبقي كاتب و مؤلف مسرحي مشهور في سويسرا و في الاخر اتأكد إن الألم رفيق الفن في حياة...فشكرا لك يا عزيزي الألم عما تظهره و تطلعه من الإنسان

[Jason N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first made aware of Strindberg via numerous literate reviews of the films of Ingmar Bergman. This is not surprising, as the two share some common themes in their work. The most obvious being gloominess. But that's just Sweden in general, right? "Joy is but the shadow pain casts."

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

رقص مرگ (1900)، طنز دیگری ست در مورد ازدواج در شکل سنتی، که عاری از سانتی مانتالیسم، کابوسی بیش نیست. فردریش دورنمات با استفاده از "رقص مرگ"، صحنه ی ازدواج های معلول را به رینگ بوکسی شبیه کرده (بازی استریندبرگ) که دو سوی آن بی هیچ امید به پیروزی و رستگاری، در موقعیت و فضایی "محدود" و تنگ، می جنگند و یکدیگر را لت و پار می کنند. همان گونه که ادوارد آلبی در "چه کسی از ویرجینیا وولف می ترسد"، زوجی خشمگین و افسرده را درگیر ستیز دائمی نشان می دهد، که برای رهایی زوج جوان میهمان را به گودال تاریک خود می کشانند.

[Jacqueline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Отвратително преживяване - като всичко на Стриндберг. Не знам защо си причинявам пиесите му отново и отново, с надежда, че следващата няма да е чак такова разочарование. Мазохизъм някакъв.

В Сфумато- същата история. Жалко за иначе разкошните актьори.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quote attributed to Nietzsche is ‘The only excuse for God is that he does not exist’. In the case of August Strindberg, I would say, ‘The only excuse for Strindberg is that he is suffering from a severe mental illness’.

Michael Meyer, his translator, suggests as much in the introduction to The Dance of Death, referring to Strindberg’s ‘paranoid-schizophrenic character’. Meyer might be using the words carelessly in the parlance of the time he wrote, but I imagine that this is sincerely how Meyer saw Strindberg, and with good reason.

To use a less august source than Strindberg (excuse the pun), I am reminded of what Batman says in The Dark Knight: “What were you trying to prove? That deep down, everyone's as ugly as you?” That does seem to be Strindberg’s view of human nature. He has projected his own neuroses into a universal condition.

In The Dance of Death, Strindberg is essentially avenging himself on his brother-in-law by portraying him as Edgar, the retired artillery captain, a man who thrives on manipulating and hurting others. Edgar has a miserable marriage with Alice, who, like most Strindberg wives, is a harpy.

Onto the scene comes Alice’s cousin, Kurt, a man who thinks he is a better person, but who is soon drawn into the darkness by his attraction to Alice. Meanwhile the Captain seeks to destroy his rival, perhaps out of jealousy, but probably out of simple malice.

Part Two is more of the same, but Strindberg slightly softens the astringent tone by offering some hope for the next generation, and an ending that resolves the triangle. Curiously the Captain has moved from being poor in the first half to being rich in the second, with no apparent explanation.

Whether the Captain and Alice’s daughter Judith will truly change and become nicer to Kurt’s son Allan is nonetheless open to question, and any resolution for the remaining characters is still formed on hatred, even if Strindberg does include a few unconvincing pleasantries at the end.

Given that Kurt is based on Strindberg, and Alice and the Captain on his sister and her husband, what is going on here? Is Strindberg confessing in dramatic form to incestuous attraction to his sister? Notably Kurt is a cousin, and therefore related to Alice.

The character of the Captain drew its inspiration from Strindberg’s brother-in-law, and from another acquaintance. However I suspect that he is also a portrait of Strindberg himself, a man who often portrayed his marriage in bitter terms on the stage.

So we have not one but two portrayals of Strindberg in the play, a fitting gesture for someone as narcissistic as Strindberg. Indeed while the Captain behaves in a vile manner, I suspect that Strindberg has a sneaking admiration for him.

Since Alice undermines Edgar at every point, and Kurt’s masochistic resignation soon wears thin, that makes the Captain the liveliest character in the play. His attitude is more in keeping with Strindberg’s worldview, which eschews kindness in favour of spitefulness. Strindberg would like us to see the Captain as a victim more than a perpetrator, I believe.

As ever in Strindberg there is a mood of dispiriting ugliness. Unlike other ‘giving’ playwrights such as Ibsen or Shakespeare, Strindberg’s works are essentially self-centred, focused on nurturing his own wounds rather than entertaining, uplifting or inspiring his audience.

Still there are pleasures for the reader or audience member here. There is a bleak poetry in Strindberg’s words. Also if you have a taste of it, Strindberg’s savage humour is undeniably very funny.

[blawatekk · Rating 4 out of 5]

pierwsza część super, druga już gorzej, ale przyjemna lekturka

[madison]

Typical Strindberg misogyny, but also I love the petty drama of it all

[Helen]

Awesome lowkey.....

[Lida Wengel]

Grusomt og grumt

[HansBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aus HansBlog.de:

Zwei resignierte, zynische alte Eheleute bewerfen sich mit Bosheiten erster Klasse. Die Frau betreibt sogar den Tod des Göttergatten, dieser bescheidet sich zunächst mit einer überfallartigen Scheidung – oder ist die nur vorgetäuscht? Beide ziehen wechselseitig noch einen Freund des Hauses und ihre Kinder ins böse Spiel. "Algen, Schlinggras, Tintenfische, Quallen, Nesseltiere" wuchern nicht nur am Strindbergschen Meeresstrand (S. 75), sondern lauern auch in den Herzen der Akteure.
Unterhaltsam teuflisches Geplauder liefert August Strindberg (1849–1912) hier, jedenfalls im ersten Drittel. Wie schön, anderen beim Zanken zuzusehen. Kommt denn ein anständiger Mensch auf solche Gedanken? Strindbergs eigene Erfahrung scheint durchzuklingen – Paralleln zu seinem Leben als serieller Ehemann und Schauspielerinnenheirater fallen auf.
Wie in den Strindberg-Stücken Fräulein Julie und Der Vater agiert die weibliche Hauptfigur auch im Totentanz übertrieben selbstbewusst, unschön empowert und teils boshaft:
K u r t. Wie scharfsinnig du wirst, wenn du haßt!
A l i c e. Und dumm, wenn man liebt!
Alices Tochte rühmt ihre eigene "glückliche Anlage, nicht leiden zu können". So dürfte man das heute natürlich gar nicht mehr schreiben. (Auch nonbinäre, transmigrantische und LGBTQXYZ-Erfahrungen sind sträflich unterrepräsentiert und sollten das Stück an den Twitterpranger bringen.)
Gelegentlich werden Strindbergs Dialoge zu metaphysisch, will der Autor Ideen einbauen, die nicht ganz in die Psychologie passen (ein Unterschied zu den deutlicher naturalistischen, früheren Stücken Fräulein Julie und Der Vater). Manche Entwicklungen im zweiten Teil geschehen viel zu rasch (Kurts Pleite, Allans Verschickung nach Norrland); hier dreht der Autor die Handlung brachial in beliebige Richtungen.
Die Eindeutschung von Willi Reich (Reclam) klingt überwiegend kompakt und nicht altmodisch, liefert aber auch Befremdliches wie "Ich weiß nicht, daß wir seit fünf Jahren so etwas wie einen Weinkeller gehabt haben" (S. 6; mich interessiert, wie die verschiedenen Übersetzungen der deutschen Theaterverlage klingen und ob man womöglich für die Bühne anders übersetzt als für den Nur-Leser daheim).
Verfilmt wurde der Totentanz u.a. 1948 mit Erich von Stroheim, 1967 von Michael Verhoeven mit Lilli Palmer, Paul Verhoeven und Karl Michael Vogler unter dem Titel Paarungen, 1969 m. L. Olivier. Friedrich Dürrenmatt verjazzte die Geschichte 1969 zu Play Strindberg. Friederike Roth machte 2011 einen "Todestanz - Lebenstanz" daraus.

[Liis Reemann-Aints]

“Alice: Oled sa haige?
Allan: Jah!
Alice: Mis sul siis viga on?
Allan: Ma ei tea!
Alice: Pea valutab?
Allan: E-eei!
Alice: Aga põues on piin?
Allan: Jaa!”

[SMehdi Razavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

وقتی می‌خوندمش بهش حس خوبی داشتم و همراهِ خودش نگه‌ام داشت. اما اونطور که یادم بمونه، نه!

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐½
La macabra danza dell'amore

“Soffri molto, come se il cuore ti si sciogliesse? E senti struggimento, angustia… E hai voglia di morire, di essere già morto… e vedi tutto nero. E non riesci a pensare che a una sola cosa, a una sola persona… Ma se c’è un altro che pensa alla stessa persona, allora il dolore diventa più forte…
E’ un male che nessuno è in grado di curare, questo. Non hai voglia di mangiare né di bere, solo di piangere. E che lacrime amare! Cosa vuoi da lei? Nulla. Non vuoi baciarle le labbra perché temi di morirne. E quando il tuo pensiero corre a lei hai l’impressione che la morte sia vicina. Ma è dalla morte, ragazzo mio, dalla morte che viene la vita. Però tu questo ancora non lo capisci… Profumo di violette! E’ lei! Si, è lei! Sempre e dappertutto solo lei!”

Danza di Morte (anche conosciuto come Danza macabra) è un dramma in due atti scritto di getto in una settimana.
Pochi conoscono August Strindberg, a meno che non siano profondi amanti o conoscitori del teatro.
Io ci sono arrivata per vie traverse: per mezzo del cinema di Ingmar Bergman e della biografia di Edvard Munch (intimo amico dello scrittore e drammaturgo).

L’essenza del testo è la quotidianità, un po’ logora e banale di una coppia. È la storia di un ménage familiare conflittuale e drammaticamente moderno.

Due coniugi di mezza età si torturano da venticinque anni nello spazio claustrofobico di una casa borghese. Lui è un proletario che è riuscito a diventare capitano ma non maggiore, e quindi è frustrato. Lei, Alice, è una ex attrice che ha sacrificato alle aspettative, disattese, di una scalata sociale, una possibile - forse improbabile - carriera artistica, e quindi è frustrata. Le due frustrazioni si scontrano moltiplicandosi, rivelandosi a tratti a tinte forti. Ma l’inferno coniugale esplode con l’arrivo di un terzo elemento: Kurt.
La vicenda del Capitano , Alice e Kurt (lui, lei e l’altro) è però solo un canovaccio su cui intessere temi più grandi e profondi, forse mai recepiti nella drammaturgia di Strindberg: il Perdono e la Rassegnazione.
E’ un'analisi lucida e spietata della vita di coppia, dello scontro titanico tra i sessi.

I protagonisti sono bloccati insieme, senz'altro destino possibile che l'odio e la rivalsa reciproci. Senza un attimo di tregua i due si rinfacciano le loro colpe. I personaggi sono inquieti e tanto tormentati da sfiorare una vera e propria lotta omicida. Cercano in tutti i modi di stare il più lontano possibile l’uno dall’altra, ma non sanno che non appena lontani inizierà la strazio della mancanza, che è una delle più terribili sofferenze che la vita possa offrire.

Mi sono persa e ripersa tra quelle poche pagine e dalle varie letture affrontate in diversi momenti sono affiorate alla superficie della mia coscienza considerazioni su quello che è l’amore, su quali trasformazioni attraversa… sul motivo che genera queste metamorfosi nella natura di un sentimento così radicato, imponente e profondo.

L’inferno descritto da Strindberg non emerge dal contrasto di creature terribili e perverse, ma dalla convivenza di persone comuni, ordinarie, quasi banali, che si sono amate e che assistono ad una metamorfosi dell’altro e di loro stessi, e che danzano intorno alla vita e alla morte.

[HansBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aus HansBlog.de:

Friedrich Dürrenmatt sagt, er habe August Strindbergs "Totentanz" verknappt. Der Titel "Play Strindberg", angelehnt an Jacques Loussiers luftig-jazzigen "Play Bach"-Stil, legt nahe, Dürrenmatt habe Strindberg verjazzt, verswingt oder verbacht. Doch das passt alles nicht. Stattdessen:
Dürrenmatt hat Strindberg vermarschmusikt. Die Dürrenmattsche Version mit ihren militärisch knappen, durchrhythmisierten Dialogzeilen und Beleidigungtrommelfeuer schnarrt durch wie ein pixeliges 90er-Jahre-Videospiel oder wie so ein Plastikfigürchen, das ein Gewicht bis zur Tischkante zieht; wie ein Bojarentanz.
Dieser straffe, staubtrockene Stil hat was. Strindberg warf auch ein paar Personen heraus und verzichtete auf die Wirren des zweiten "Totentanz"-Teils. Das Ganze ist nun aber endgültig eine Groteske, ein Spiel, oder (so Dürrenmatt) ein "Übungsstück" - kein ernsthaftes Ehedrama.
(Auch Strindberg selbst schrieb wohlgemerkt schon straff, frech und keinesfalls redselig, mit allzu empowerten Weibsbildern, und das nicht nur im Totentanz, sondern auch in den Stücken Der Vater und Fräulein Julie.)

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire.
رقص مرگ (1900)، طنزی ست درباره ی ازدواج در شکل سنتی، کابوسی عاری از سانتی مانتالیسم. فردریش دورنمات با استفاده از "رقص مرگ"، صحنه ی ازدواج های معلول را به رینگ بوکسی شبیه کرده (بازی استریندبرگ) که دو سوی آن بی هیچ امید به پیروزی و رستگاری، در موقعیت و فضایی "محدود" و تنگ، می جنگند، و یکدیگر را لت و پار می کنند. همان گونه که ادوارد آلبی در "چه کسی از ویرجینیا وولف می ترسد"، زوجی خشمگین و افسرده را نشان می دهد که برای رهایی از سیتز دائمی، زوجی جوان را به گودال تاریک خود می کشانند.
این نمایش نامه توسط زنده یاد حمید سمندریان ترجمه و کارگردانی شده، و انتشارات تجربه آن را در سری "نسل قلم- آثار" چاپ و منتشر کرده است (1373)

[Mohamed Abdelaty · Rating 4 out of 5]

رقصه الموت هتدخلك لمتعه مسرح العبث و هتخليك تشوف معني الكراهيه كدافع للاستمرار
فالمسرحيه يقدم فيها سترندبرج زوجان قمه في التعاسه يحيان علي كراهيه كل منهم للاخر تدور احداثها في فصل الخريف كارهاص بطبيعه العلاقه بين الزوجين داخل برج قلعه كانت سجن في يوم من الايام وكان جدرانه كما قالت اليس تشربت كل الاثام والجرائم التي ارتكبها من حبسوا فيه ونضحتها علي الزوجين وعلاقتهما
اعتقد ان المسرحيه فيها عمق وتصوير عظيم لطبيعه الصراع بين كثير من الازواج الذين لا يرو خلاصهم الا في موت الاخر كما قالت اليس ردا علي الكابتن عندما برر غضبها منه لانه لم يمت بالامس فقالت لا انا غاضبه لانك لم تمت منذ ٢٥ عاما بل لانك لم تمت قبل ان اولد قد يكون تصوير سترندبرج للعلاقه مبالغ فيه فقد اتي بزوجين انحدرا الي القاع بكل معني الكلمه لكن اعتقد ان المتامل لنص المسرحيه سيجد الكثير من حوارتها يدور مضمونها في البيوت بين الازواج والفرق الوحيد بين المسرح والواقع هو درجه الانحدار

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know about Strindberg's personal life, but I'm guessing that he was, either never married, or had only miserable personal experience with it. The characters in this play are all miserable. Alice and Captain have, at the start of the play, been married for twenty-five miserable years. All that they do is bicker. Alice admits that she quit her own budding career to marry her husband. However, love was not her motivation; she wanted the status she believed that marriage could give her. Captain is simply arrogant and manipulative. Alice only changes when her long-awaited wish occurs and her husband dies. Kurt's son, Allan, and Alice and Captain's daughter, Judith, seem doomed to have an equally unhappy union by the time they get together by the end of the play.