The Storm

The Storm is a remarkable picture of old age, depicting an elderly government minister who lives in an apartment in a house where he had once been happy with his divorced wife. Having left her because he was too old for her and having lost access to his daughter in a painful divorce, he is about to be lured into marriage again by a distant cousin who is living as his housekeeper. The position of Housekeeper in Victorian Sweden, an institution in wealthy society, was one of great upward mobility because it afforded women exposure to important people. On a simple level, the play offers the theme “there’s no fool like an old fool.” On a more complex level, it is probably the best of Strindberg’s marriage plays (and prose), his “last word” on the matter (he never wrote about marriage again) and the most directly autobiographical piece in his canon.