Master Olof: A Drama in Five Acts

Strindberg's first major play, written when he was just twenty-three, dramatizes the making of a revolutionary. Master Olof follows Olaus Petri, the priest who would become the architect of the Swedish Reformation, as he grapples with his conscience in the shadow of Rome and feudal power. The play opens at a cloister in Strängnäs where young Olof must choose: remain comfortable in the old faith, or ring the bell of reform and risk everything. Strindberg renders this historical conflict with startling immediacy, finding in 16th-century Sweden the same tensions between authority and conscience that would define his entire career. The young dramatist already displays his signature gift for placing characters at the fulcrum of history, where personal conviction collides with institutional power. This is reformation as personal crisis, not abstract ideology. For readers interested in the roots of modern drama, Master Olof offers a rare glimpse of Strindberg before he became Strindberg: fiery, political, and utterly unafraid of dangerous ideas.