Die Bühne in August Strindbergs Nach Damaskus – Grenze zwischen Traum und Wirklichkeit

Abstract

To Damascus (Till Damaskus) is considered August Strindberg's first dream play, a trilogy in which the dream presents the inner world of the characters and their development. In the drama occur psychological processes and experiences, which move away from the real-life frame and at the same time, a firm connection between the real and in this sense dreamlike setting is established. Through these characteristics of the drama and in particular through the representation of the play, Strindberg sets the foundation for a modern theater technique. He experiments with an inner stage to show what happens deep inside the human being. He succeeds in this by splitting the general stage – a concrete part in which the piece is played, and a part of the inner stage, the subconscious of the characters, which is considered a dream world – by applying stage transformations, change of plan, change of location and time, or applying the concept of play within a play. The present paper deals with the analysis of the dream world on stage in To Damascus and with the methods, by which it is built, for example, stage directions, simplified decor, light design, sound and shadows. It is a fact that any symbol, motive, any relationship or textual information serve to present the inner world of the characters on stage. Starting from this point, I will explore which is the technical role of the dream in Strindberg`s dream play, from a scenic perspective, and how its scenic representation leads to the fact that the viewers see a symbolic world, where time and space no longer exist, in which one cannot find a concrete border between dream and reality.