Editing August Strindberg (section)

===1900s===
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2017}}
Strindberg was pivotal in the creation of [[chamber play]]s. [[Max Reinhardt]] was a big supporter of his, staging some of his plays at the Kleines Theatre in 1902 (including ''The Bond'', ''The Stronger'', and ''The Outlaw''). Once [[Otto Brahm]] relinquished his role as head as of the [[Deutsches Theater (Berlin)|Deutsches Theatre]], Reinhardt took over and produced Strindberg's plays.

In 1903, Strindberg planned to write a grand cycle of plays based on world history, but the idea soon faded. He had completed short plays about [[Martin Luther]], [[Plato]], [[Moses]], [[Jesus Christ]], and [[Socrates]]. He wrote another historical drama in 1908 after the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre|Royal Theatre]] convinced him to put on a new play for its sixtieth birthday. He wrote ''The Last of the Knights'' (1908), ''Earl Birger of Bjälbo'' (1909), and ''The Regents'' (1909).

[[File:Portrait of August Strindberg by Richard Bergh 1905.jpg|thumb|right|A portrait of August Strindberg by [[Richard Bergh]] (1905).]]
His other works, such as ''Days of Loneliness'' (1903), ''The Roofing Ceremony'' (1907), and ''The Scapegoat'' (1907), and the novels ''The Gothic Rooms'' (1904) and ''Black Banners Genre Scenes from the Turn of the Century'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=54157&concordeid=310783|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401204924/http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=54157&concordeid=310783|url-status=dead|title=Strindberg, August. Translated and with an Introduction by Donald K. Weaver. Series: Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature – Volume 101. Peter Lang, New York, 2010.|archive-date=1 April 2012}}</ref> (1907) have been viewed as precursors to [[Marcel Proust]] and [[Franz Kafka]].

August Falck, an actor, wanted to put on a production of ''Miss Julie'' and wrote to Strindberg for permission. In September 1906 he staged the first Swedish production of ''Miss Julie''. August Falck, played Jean and Manda Bjorling played Julie.

In 1909, Strindberg thought he might get the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], but instead lost to [[Selma Lagerlöf]], the first woman and first Swede to win the award. The leader of the [[Social Democratic Youth of Denmark|Social Democrat Youth Alliance]] started a fund-raiser for a special "people's award". [[Nathan Söderblom]] (friend of Strindberg since the mid-90s years in Paris, a prominent theologian and later to become archbishop of Sweden) was noted as a donor, and both he and Strindberg came under attack from circles close to the conservative party and the church. In total 45,000 Swedish crowns were collected, by more than 20,000 donors, most of whom were workers. [[Albert Bonniers förlag]], who had already published much of his work over the years, paid him 200,000 Swedish crowns for the publishing rights to his complete works; the first volumes of the edition would appear in print in 1912, a few months before his death. He invited his first three children (now, like their mother, living in Finland) to Stockholm and divided the money into five shares, one for each child, one for Siri (absent), and the last one for himself. In setting apart one share for Siri, Strindberg noted, in a shy voice, "This is for your mother - it's to settle an old debt". When the children returned to Helsinki, Siri was surprised to hear that she had been included, but accepted the money and told them in a voice that was, according to her daughter Karin, both proud and moved, "I shall accept it, receiving it as an old debt". The debt was less financial than mental and emotional; Strindberg knew he had sometimes treated her unfairly during the later years of their marriage and at their divorce trial.<ref>[[Karin Smirnov]] (''née'' Strindberg), ''Strindbergs första hustru'' (Strindberg's first wife), 1925 and [[Olof Lagercrantz]], ''August Strindberg'', 1979</ref> In 1912, she would pass away only a few weeks before him.

In 1907, Strindberg co-founded [[Strindbergs Intima Teater|The Intimate Theatre]] in Stockholm, together with the young actor and stage director August Falck. His theatre was modeled after [[Max Reinhardt]]'s Kammerspiel Haus. Strindberg and Falck had the intention of the theatre being used for his plays and his plays only, Strindberg also wanted to try out a more chamber-oriented and sparse style of dramatic writing and production. In time for the theatre's opening, Strindberg wrote four chamber plays: ''Thunder in the Air, The Burned Site, The Ghost Sonata'', and ''The Pelican''; these were generally not a success with audiences or newspaper critics at the time but have been highly influential on modern drama (and soon would reach wider audiences at Reinhardt's theatre in Berlin and other German stages). Strindberg had very specific ideas about how the theatre would be opened and operated. He drafted a series of rules for his theatre in a letter to August Falck:

1. No liquor.<br />
2. No Sunday performances.<br />
3. Short performances without intermissions.<br />
4. No calls.<br />
5. Only 160 seats in the auditorium.<br />
6. No prompter. No orchestra, only music on stage.<br />
7. The text will be sold at the box office and in the lobby.<br />
8. Summer performances.

Falck helped to design the auditorium, which was decorated in a deep-green tone. The ceiling lighting was a yellow silk cover which created an effect of mild daylight. The floor was covered with a deep-green carpet, and the auditorium was decorated by six ultra modern columns with elaborate up-to-date capitals. Instead of the usual restaurant Strindberg offered a lounge for the ladies and a smoking-room for the gentlemen. The stage was unusually small, only 6 by 9 metres. The small stage and minimal number of seats was meant to give the audience a greater feeling of involvement in the work. Unlike most theatres at this time, the Intima Teater was not a place in which people could come to socialize. By setting up his rules and creating an intimate atmosphere, Strindberg was able to demand the audience's focus. When the theatre opened in 1907 with a performance of ''The Pelican'' it was a rather large hit. Strindberg used a minimal technique, as was his way, by only having a back drop and some sea shells on the stage for scene design and props. Strindberg was much more concerned with the actors portraying the written word than the stage looking pretty.

The theatre ran into a financial difficulty in February 1908 and Falck had to borrow money from [[Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke]], who attended the première of ''The Pelican''. The theatre eventually went bankrupt in 1910, but did not close until Strindberg's death in 1912. The newspapers wrote about the theatre until its death.