Word: strindbergism
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...overt audience manipulation ever a viable substitute for theater? August Strindberg's The Father, now playing at the American Repertory Theater (ART), has as its principal goal the creation of misogynist emotion, and here it succeeds brilliantly. But ultimately the play's narrow ambitions undercut its achievements, and the constant insistence on negative character definition leaves us wondering whether any lesson other than hatred has been learned...
...interesting to note that The Father marks the last of Strindberg's "antiwoman" plays, and his later works feature more sympathetic female protagonists. But this play makes no attempt to sympathize with, or even understand, Laura's position. Instead, she is portrayed as the incarnation of spite, a malignant crone whose sole goal is the destruction of her husband's authority and sanity...
...Strindberg's hands, the ultimate triumph of the wife over her husband is not an assertion of female independence but rather the bitter victory of a twisted spirit. The Father does not treat Laura's story as an exceptional one. The Captain, like the audience, sees his wife as a representative of all women, and cries, "To hell with hags...
Unfortunately, what emerges in this production of The Father is not so much conflict as calumny. Strindberg compellingly advances an absurd hypothesis: women seek nothing more than the destruction of their mates and the sole possession of their children. But he refuses to justify or even to attempt an explanation for their actions. We are left gaping at the damage women cause while remaining ignorant of the reasons for their blows...
...worthwhile, then, to spend an evening watching two unappealing characters engage in a verbal slugfest? As in the plays of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee (two acknowledged Strindberg emulators), the reason is that the struggle takes on an almost metaphysical significance--provided that the actors are in fighting shape. Fortunately, both Goldman and Hurewitz can cut the mustard, and they attack their roles (and each other) with relish...