Misterul unui spectacol de mister
The mystery of a mystery show

Summary/Abstract: August Strindberg’s last drama The great highway (1909), as well as Hugo von Hoffmansthal’s Jedermann (1911), were written almost at the same time, and were both inspired by the tradition of medieval mystery and morality plays. While Hoffmansthal work, first performed in 1911 under the direction of Max Reinhardt, knew an unprecedented success, opening each year, since 1920, the Salzburg Theatre Festival, Strindbergs play remains unknown. It’s rare stagings have been received by criticism and seemed doomed to failure. The paper proposes to point out the way both drama writers have creatively used the structure of the medieval play as their source and to identify what might have been the reason for their success or failure, looking at how both plays were staged, promoted and perceived.

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