Gertrud (play)
Gertrud is a Swedish 1906 play (drama), in three parts, by author and playwright Hjalmar Söderberg.
Story description
The play is a modern relationship drama (in Sweden often considered as one of the very best Swedish plays ever written) with the middle-age Gertrud in the centre and about her relationships with three different men; her husband Gustav Kanning (a politician), her older, former lover Gabriel Lidman (a poet) and her newfound love Erland Jansson (a young composer): men who have desired — and desire her — in three different ways.
The first act is set in Gustaf Kanning's study at home where Gertrud in the dark, in the first scene, awaits her husband's return from work as she has something important to tell: she's going to leave him. How will Kanning react to this? How will her former love interest — who suddenly returns from a long trip overseas — react? Is her newfound love worth the sacrifice she is about to make?
The play is a penetrating drama on life, love and passion. About the feeling of being trapped and confined in a marriage, the need of love and the search of THE LOVE; but does it exist? How does it show itself and what is real love anyway? Is it a fundamental right to love and be loved? It's also a play about how we all value love and closeness in a relationship — and the need and importance of it in our lives — so completely different. Women and men, and from man to man and woman to woman. Why is it all so difficult?
The original production in Sweden premiered on February 13, 1907 at the old Royal Dramatic Theatre featuring Gerda Lundequist in the title role.
Characters
- Gertrud Kanning
- Gustav Kanning
- Gabriel Lidman
- Erland Jansson
- Kanning's mother
- The White Shape
Notable productions
- The original 1907 staging with Gerda Lundequist as Gertrud by the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
- The 1953 Dramaten-staging with Eva Dahlbeck as Gertrud.
- The 1999 TV-theatre adaption (SVT) with Marie Richardson as Gertrud.
Film adaptation
- 1964 – Gertrud (directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer)