Strindberg, the Artist

Abstract

At fifteen minutes, The Stronger (1889) condenses some challenges in the theatrical production of Strindberg: stage time, non-verbal language or dialogue construction of the plot and characters through the battle of brains between Mrs X and Miss Y. Psychological introspection reveals the multifaceted and contradictory nature of the human being and invites the audience to construct the characters from their sub-jectivity, one of the most modern shifts in Strindberg's theatrical conception which links with the nostalgia that comes from the loss of the totalising depiction of reali-ty, typical of the spirit of the era in Europe and radical in Scandinavia.

Strindberg knew how to capture and interpret the pulses of his time and the need for new languages to reach the audience, his fellow citizens, and move them, open their eyes and encourage them to change things. This led him to constant experi-mentation, to always traverse the boundaries of all genres, arts and disciplines to the point of forcing the limits of understanding, as he did in Inferno, or in the plays for the Intima Teater.

The Stronger is a clear example of Strindberg's commitment to move freely through the unknown and obscure terrain of artistic creation, through the appeal of the abyss that the Artist feels if he gives himself unreservedly to his creative in-stinct, and how he defends his contemporaneity and challenges our contemporary playwrights.