THE AM ERIC AN-SC AN DIN AVIAN REVIEW 
549 
sidered. Now and then the theatre directors for the sake of appear¬ 
ances include a classic play in their program, or a Swedish play; but 
the latter is required to he ot a much higher standard than the foreign 
works if the theatre director, and later the critic, shall give their 
approval. Shakespeare is played occasionally and when carefully 
staged and well acted, the result is far from discouraging. One of the 
greatest successes of the Dramatiska teatern from an artistic as well 
as a financial point of view, was obtained during the Hedberg regime 
in Hamlet with De Wahl in the title role. 
This purposeless choice of repertoire has not resulted in the devel¬ 
opment of a specifically Swedish dramatic art. The Swedish stage 
displays at the same time naturalism, classicism, symbolism, and 
romanticism, and this may be said to be true of every perform¬ 
ance and of almost every actor and actress. Strindberg, our only 
important dramatist, is played only on very rare occasions, and no 
attempt to give his works an individually colored interpretation and 
staging, and thus create a Swedish Strindberg style, has been ventured 
upon by our theatre directors. An endeavor was made in this direc¬ 
tion by the Svenska teatern where Strindberg’s Hance of Death 
(Dodsdansen) was performed with Fru Brunius and Svennberg in 
the main parts; the result was excellent, but it has not been followed 
by other experiments. Last fall the Dramatiska teatern produced 
Strindberg’s A Vision (Ett Dromspel) staged by Herr Reinhardt, 
the German instructor. From an artistic point of view, the outcome 
of this experiment—letting a German stage manager instruct Swedish 
actors and actresses in playing one of their own national dramas— 
was very unsatisfactory, but the attitude of the public clearly showed 
that it is not they who lacked interest. 
In general, the past season has brought forth very little of sig¬ 
nificance. The most remarkable feature is that two Swedish plays 
were produced, a serious study of Swedish folk-life entitled Swedish 
People (Svenskt Folk) by a young debutant, Ivar Thor Thunberg, 
and Royal Suedois by the author and critic, Ejnar Smith. The 
former is a promising but imperfect picture of life, clearly showing 
the influence of Strindberg; the latter, a romantic, historic play, pleas¬ 
ing and merry, of the type which the great public love and which even 
the more fastidious has no right to criticize. 
