I am contemporary!

Following the release of the book August Strindberg* (jointly published by the Institut del Teatre [IT] and Comanegra), the journal Estudis Escènics of the IT, with the collaboration of the Department of Catalan Philology of the Universitat de Barcelona, is organising a Day of Debate on the playwright, his work and his influence.

Estudis Escènics opens a call for papers for the specific dossier on Strindberg’s work that will bring together the presentations of the Day of Debate “I am contemporary! Strindberg and Today’s Theatre” in the 2020 issue of the journal.

The event will be attended by Jean-Pierre Sarrazac, Strindberg theatre scholar, who has recently published his fine study Strindberg, L'Impersonnel, and Jonathan Châtel, who three years ago presented his acclaimed adaptation of The Road to Damascus at the Festival d’Avignon. Another participant will be Anna Pettersson, director of the revived Strindbergs Intima Teater in Stockholm, whose challenge today is to reread, reinterpret and perform the playwright’s plays again. We can discover the outcome of the work of Imma Merino on Strindberg’s influence on Ingmar Bergman and the art of cinema; of Teresa Rosell, with a lecture focused on The Ghost Sonata as a groundbreaking play and precursor to new contemporary playwriting; and of Carolina Moreno, a benchmark in the translation of Strindberg’s work into Catalan.

Moreover, in the roundtable “Staging Strindberg”, the stage directors Teresa Vilardell and Claudia Faci, the directors Pau Carrió, Jordi Casanovas and Raimon Molins, and the set designer Alfons Flores, will share their experience in staging Strindberg’s plays.

In the framework of the event there will be a dramatised reading (directed by Teresa Vilardell) of the Memorandum to the Members of the Intima Teater, based on the text written by Strindberg in 1908 and the correspondence between the playwright and his colleague and disciple August Falck.