The Heritage of Strindberg on the 21st-century Italian Stage

Abstract

Starting from Ett drömspel, staged by Luca Ronconi, in February 2000, this paper deals with the perception that the outstanding men of the Italian theatre – especially Massimo Castri, Marco Bernardi, Armando Pugliese, Gabriele Lavia, Walter Malosti etc. – had of Strindberg’s works in the first decade of the 21st century: some interpreting them in a modernistic, up-to-date manner, some preferring to approach them in a more audaciously post-modern view. In the end, for the Italian theatre, Strindberg proves to be not in the least an established classic author to reckon with, but the testing ground of complex reflections on modernity.