History Plays

Abstract

At the height of his powers as a dramatist, Strindberg wrote a series of plays to form a cycle of Swedish history. The number of plays and the way they are interlinked show an extended scheme of some magnitude, and the varied, yet generally high quality of dramatic interest to be found in all parts of the cycle establishes Strindberg as the greatest historical dramatist of modern times, comparable only to ‘my master Shakespeare’. The finished cycle starts from the late Middle Ages and finally brings Swedish history to the verge of the modern age.¹