Ludvig Holberg PLAYS

KynochLudvig Holberg (1684-1754) is to Danish theatre what Shakespeare, Molière and Strindberg are to their national stages - and the world stage. During his lifetime, Holberg was a major figure in European literature and thought. In the Nordic region, his work forms the backdrop to writers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Andersen, Henrik Ibsen and Karen Blixen. The quality of Holberg's writings, the universality of his themes, his understanding of stage and auditorium all more than qualify him to resume his role on the international stage.

This second volume in a series of new translations presents Holberg's radical defence of women's equal right to education and employment, and two of his witty plays about playing roles, the professional and the self-delusional alike, in life and in the theatre.

'Zille Hans-daughter's Gynaicologia, or Defence of Womankind' is a sparkling, witty and bitingly satirical poem 'penned by' a young woman named Zille, the teenage daughter of Hans, in which she dissects the absurdity of male dominance and the patriarchal society.

'Erasmus Montanus' follows the self-titled, self-delusional, city-slicker university student (real name: Rasmus Berg) on a visit to the small rural community where he grew up. His arrogant and know-all behaviour throws everyone and everything into outrageous turmoil. The play is a caustic satire about what happens when abstract, unworldly scholarship collides with real life and material needs.

In 'Witchcraft, or False Alarm', actors in the theatre troupe working in a dormant provincial town are rumoured to be dangerous Satanists. The entire community erupts in a frenzy of terrified conspiracy theory paranoia, reaching the brink of violence before the misunderstanding is cleared up: the overheard 'pact with the Devil' was simply an actor rehearsing his role in a play he hoped would make some money for the empty theatre coffers.

'I never tire of reading Holberg's plays.'
(Henrik Ibsen, 1869)

Bent Holm: Born in 1946. MA, Phil.Doc. Associate Professor, Theatre Studies, Institute for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen. Research travels to Italy, France, and India. Dramaturg and translator of plays, especially by Dario Fo, De Filippo, and Goldoni. Doctoral dissertation about Comédie Italienne in a broad cultural/religious/iconographic context. Has published interdisciplinary studies on historical and dramaturgical issues in English, French, Polish, and Italian. Is for the moment preparing the English version of his book about eighteenth-century playwright Ludvig Holberg in a dramaturgical-historical perspective. Special research focuses are on relationships between visual arts and theatre; drama analysis and creative theatre production; theatricality and rituality. Lecturer at several international universities and research centres, most recently in Torino, Paris, Frankfurt, and Stockholm. Member of scientific committees and networks in Paris, Mantova, and Torino, among other cities. Publications include: 'The Taming of the Turk: Ottomans on the Danish Stage 1596-1896'. Vienna: Hollitzer, 2014 (= Ottomania 2).