A Dream Play

In its fifth season, theatre KAPOW will explore the world of dreams beginning with Caryl Churchill’s 2005 adaptation of August Strindberg’s surreal masterpiece A Dream Play.

Purportedly written during a psychotic break, A Dream Play follows the logic of a dream in which images and characters merge and separate, locations change in an instant, and a locked door recurs obsessively. Strindberg wrote in his preface to the play, “Everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and place do not exist.” Agnes, a daughter of the gods, descends from the heavens to discover the reality of human existence. In a dream-like progression of captivating events, Agnes encounters dozens of people and their daily struggles with love, suffering, politics, ambition, philosophy, hope and compassion. This vision of our world explores humanity with insight, humor and the vivid power of a dream.