'You - miserable, mean, scribbler of a man. You're quoting from that play you put me in.'

Abandoning theatre, living a life of squalid splendour, August Strindberg practises alchemy. In his hotel room, he attempts to make gold by finding the philosopher's stone, the secret of creation. As his grasp on reality weakens, his first two wives visit him to bring him to his senses. But their interventions spin out of control.

For four years in fin-de-siecle Paris, Europe's most famous playwright vanished. Most people thought he had gone insane. When he reappeared, his new plays changed theatre forever.

Howard Brenton's play The Blinding Light tells the astonishing story of August Strindberg's 'Inferno' period. It premiered at Jermyn Street Theatre, London, in 2017, directed by Tom Littler.

About the Author
Howard Brenton was born in Portsmouth in 1942. His many plays include Christie in Love (Portable Theatre, 1969); Revenge (Theatre Upstairs, 1969); Magnificence (Royal Court Theatre,1973); The Churchill Play (Nottingham Playhouse, 1974, and twice revived by the RSC, 1978 and 1988); Bloody Poetry (FocoNovo, 1984, and Royal Court Theatre, 1987); Weapons of Happiness (National Theatre, Evening Standard Award, 1976); Epsom Downs (Joint Stock Theatre, 1977); Sore Throats (RSC,1978); The Romans in Britain (National Theatre, 1980, revived at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2006); Thirteenth Night (RSC,1981); The Genius (1983), Greenland (1988) and Berlin Bertie (1992), all presented by the Royal Court; Kit's Play (RADA Jerwood Theatre, 2000); Paul (National Theatre, 2005); In Extremis (Shakespeare's Globe, 2006 and 2007); Never So Good (National Theatre, 2008); The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists adapted from the novel by Robert Tressell (Liverpool Everyman and Chichester Festival Theatre, 2010); Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare's Globe, 2010 and 2011); 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre, 2012); #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead Theatre, 2013); The Guffin (NT Connections, 2013); Drawing the Line (Hampstead Theatre, 2013); Doctor Scroggy's War (Shakespeare's Globe, 2014); Lawrence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre, 2016); The Blinding Light (Jermyn Street Theatre, 2017), The Shadow Factory (NST City, Southampton, 2018), Jude (Hampstead Theatre, 2019) and Cancelling Socrates (Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2022). Collaborations with other writers include Brassneck (with David Hare, Nottingham Playhouse, 1972); Pravda (with David Hare, National Theatre, Evening Standard Award, 1985) and Moscow Gold (with Tariq Ali, RSC, 1990). Versions of classics include The Life of Galileo (1980) and Danton's Death (1982), both for the National Theatre; Goethe's Faust (1995/6) for the RSC; a new version of Danton's Death for the National Theatre (2010); and versions of Strindberg's Dances of Death (Gate Theatre, 2013), Miss Julie (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, & Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2017) and Creditors (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, & Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2019). He wrote thirteen episodes of the BBC1 drama series Spooks (2001-05, BAFTA Best Drama Series, 2003).

Reviews

'A cracking new play... Brenton is alive to both the comic and the painful side of this so-called "inferno period" and has an interpretation of it that the play renders very persuasive'

* Independent *

'A fascinating glimpse into the nature of artistic creation... the play boasts Brenton's characteristic intelligence and wit in dealing with substantial themes'

* The Stage *

'It is altogether a great treat... well-researched but, as importantly, dazzlingly imagined'

* TheatreCat *

'A rich and cerebral journey of language and jarring shocks... gorgeous language that is both ridiculous and exactly right for the production is a reason alone to go and see this play. The characters, the descriptions (visual and verbal) of insanity and mental instability, and the compelling biography of Strindberg are all others. Certainly more than the sum of these parts, this is an absolute treat'

* The Reviews Hub *

'Brenton charts Strindberg's psychotic episode with enormous flair in a compelling and at times hilarious play... a great portrait of a true weirdo: a blinder'

* The Arts Desk *



Book Information
ISBN 9781848427068
Author Howard Brenton
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books