Dream Up Festival 2018 Banner

The Father title

- World Premiere of a new translation

 


Directed/Translator: Robert Greer




From August 25 to September 2, Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival will present the world premiere of a new translation by Robert Greer of August Strindberg's "The Father," directed by Mr. Greer and performed by an ensemble of actors from August Strindberg Rep, who developed the piece in a workshop production last November at Gene Frankel Theatre.

In this 1887 drama, a husband and wife struggle over who will control their daughter, with tragic consequences. Adolph is an army captain, a scientist and a "free thinker." He would have his daughter educated to be a teacher, while his wife, Laura, would have her become a painter. Adolph insists that the law supports him because a woman sells her rights when she agrees to be married. Laura responds with cunning and manipulation, casting doubts as to whether Adolph is actually the father of the girl and manipulating him into the irrational act of throwing a lamp at her. She also manipulates the town Pastor (who happens to be her stepbrother) and the newly arrived town Doctor for her purposes, using her erotic influence over the doctor and her readiness to claim that the family lawyer is her child's father to unseat her husband's presence of mind. This drives him into the arms of his old trusted nurse, who straitjackets him.

A previous rendition of this translation was presented last November by August Strindberg Rep in rotation with an evening of three plays by Natalie Menna on the subjects of narcissism and authority in relationships. It was the aftermath of the Kavanaugh hearings and it was hoped that the two productions could reflect some of the sexual politics of our time and enlighten audiences on how we can have the venomous rise of Trumpism now.

 



Johnson Theater

Showtimes:
Sunday - August 25 - 8pm
Tuesday - August 27 - 9pm
Wednesday - August 28 - 6:30pm
Saturday - August 31 - 5pm
Sunday - September 1 - 2pm
Monday - September 2 - 9pm


Running time: The Father is 1 Hour 40 Minutes $18.

The Father Image

Robert Greer (director, translator) is founding director of August Strindberg Rep, for which he has directed eleven Strindberg plays to-date. He has staged English-language premières of numerous contemporary Scandinavian playwrights, including Sweden's Marianne Goldman, Helena Sigander, Cecilia Sidenbladh, Oravsky and Larsen, Hans Hederberg, Margareta Garpe and Kristina Lugn; Denmark's Stig Dalager and Norway's Edvard Rønning. He has also directed classics by Victoria Benedictsson, Laura Kieler, Anne Charlotte Leffler and Amalie Skram. His productions have been presented at the Strindberg Museum and Strindberg Festival, Stockholm; Edinburgh and NY Fringe Festivals, Barnard College, Columbia University, Rutgers, UCLA; Miranda, Pulse and Theater Row Theaters, La MaMa, Manhattan Theatre Source, Tribeca Lab, Synchronicity, TSI, BargeMusic; and The Duplex in LA. He has also directed plays by Mario Fratti, Sartre and Corneille here in New York. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Actors' Equity; the Strindberg Society, the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study and Swedish Translators in North America.




 

Back to shows button

 



© 2019 Dream Up Festival dreamupfestival.org All Rights Reserved.