A Dream Play

There was considerable critical ambivalence about Bergman's cuts and changes. Allan Fagerström in Aftonbladet was perhaps the most negative. 'this variation of A Dream Play is not signed by Strindberg but by a humorist [...] the dream mood is strangled; this production is straight and pure prose [...…].'

Reviewers though agreed that Bergman revealed a confident knowledge of Strindberg's text and that his signature was unmistakable, in a production that challenged the Molander tradition and one in which stage aesthetics dominated over metaphysics.

Bergman's production of A Dream Play went on tour in Sweden and was invited to a number of guest performances abroad.

Finland, Helsinki, 19-20 May 1970
During The Royal Dramatic Theatre's guest visit to Helsinki, Bergman held a press conference in which he talked about his relationship to Strindberg. 'Strindberg has always followed me.' Asked what kind of benefit a guest vistit might have for the director and his ensemble, he replied, 'For the director,– none whatsoever. A heck of a nuisance. The task is to keep a hundred fleas on one sheet. [...] But for the ensemble, it is immenslely valuable to perform in a new environment.'

Austria, Akademic theatre of Vienna, 10-12 June 1970
Bergman appeared at a press conference in the Vienna Concordia House and surprised the journalists with his humour and light-heartedness. He spoke about his love-hatred of Strindberg, his wish to stage The Magic Flute, his directorial premises, and his plan to make film comedies in the future, 'since life is so sad, people have nothing to laugh at'.

Bergman's international reputation and the name of Strindberg no doubt account for the greater attendance at A Dream Play performance. Almost all reviews singled out Bergman's production as the festival's high point, seeing it as a new reading of Strindberg's work and stressing the simplicity of décor and the high professionalism of the ensemble.

Serbia, Belgrade, Ateljè 23, 23 September 1970
The performance was awarded the grand Prix during this, Belgrade's fourth international festival.

Italy, Venice, Palazzo Grazzi, 27-28 September 1970
The performance was the second appearance of Strindberg's play on an Italian stage and the first Italian encounter with a Bergman stage production, though Bergman was a very well-known name in Italy as a filmmaker.

UK, London, the Aldwych, 19-24 April 1971
British reception was mixed. Among the positive responses was a review praising Bergman's lucid mise-en-scene and The Royal Dramatic Theatre's fine ensemble acting. But according to The Daily Exress, the performance in Swedish, without intermission, represented the critic's definition of hell. 'Yesterday evening was as listening to a madman phoning from China on a poor line, to the accompaniment of SOS signals from a sinking ship […...].'

West Germany, Oberhausen, Essen and Stuttgart, 12-16 June 1971
West German reviewers commented especially on Bergman's realistic, word-oriented production, its absence of Strindbergian visual symbolism and metaphysics. For the majority of West German theatre reviewers, this was their first encounter with Bergman as a stage director. Many dwelt on how the well-known filmmaker had emerged as a man of the theatre.

Holland festival, 18-21 June 1971, Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, 18 June 1971, Haag Koninklijke Schouwburg, 19 June 1971 and Rotterdam Schouwburg, 21 June 1971
To several reviewers Bergman's production proved that Strindberg's drama was still playable.