Ludvig Holberg: PLAYS

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

This third volume in a series of new translations presents Holberg's philosophical essay on the popular (but not with the authorities) masked entertainment of his day, the masquerade. Two plays then wittily expose and explore subtle negotiations around identity, gender, class, generation, each with particular focus on the mask as means of unmasking codes and conventions.

Epistle 347 is a philosophical take on the carnivalesque masquerade as being 'truer' than the social roleplays, under the paradoxical maxim that 'strictly speaking we are not truly masked except when bare faced'.

In the play Masquerade, a patriarchal master of his house sees his hierarchical world order under threat from the young generation - and even his own wife! - enjoying 'useless' masked amusements. At the other end of the scale, the servant pays no heed to rules and hierarchies. Ultimately, however, they are all but pawns in a game of chance.

In the ironic harlequinade The Invisibles, a young gentleman falls in love with an 'invisible' (masked) lady. This noble case of amour causes the servant - Harlequin -
to reassess his own wholesome, sensual relationship to his sweetheart - Columbine - and he finds their amour sadly lacking any sophistication. His ensuing high-flown attempts at imitating aristocratic courtesy cast an ambiguous light on the cultured protocols. It is up to female intelligence to remove the mask from the illusion.

'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).

Gaye Kynoch has a background in the integrated academic and practical study of drama, performance and theatre arts. She is a researcher and Danish-English literary translator of theatre plays, novels, books and essays on the arts.