The Father (Strindberg play)

It is about the struggle between parents over the future of their child; resulting in the mother, using her cunning manipulative skills, subduing and finally destroying the father.

Adolph says that his decision is final, and that the law supports him, because, he points out, the woman sells her rights when she agrees to be married.

Laura lies to the family doctor that Adolph may be mad, because, as an amateur scientist, he thinks he has discovered life on another planet by looking through a microscope.

Trapped in Laura's web of manipulation, Adolph becomes frustrated and responds with violence — he throws a burning lamp in the direction of his wife as she exits.

[2][3] This play expresses a recurrent theme in some Strindberg Naturalism: Laws and culture may influence the dynamics of men and women within their various social contracts.

Sets and costumes should be realistic, and the long expositions and complicated intrigues of romances and the "well-made play" should be avoided.

[8] Oland (who would later become famous for his portrayals of Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan in Hollywood films) translated, produced, and starred in the production, which met with mixed reviews and closed after 31 performances.

[9] Raymond Massey directed and starred in a 1949 Broadway production, which also featured Grace Kelly in the role of Bertha.

The role of the Captain has been played in the West End by Michael Redgrave (1948), Wilfrid Lawson (1953) and Trevor Howard (1964).

[12] In 2016, Theatre for a New Audience produced David Greig's version of the play in rep with Thornton Wilder's adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House.

[13] In 2019 a thirty-five-year-old theater group of Calcutta, Ushneek, produced an adaptation of this Strindberg play in Bengali as "Babai".