Spöksonaten
overview
Bergman's fourth production of Strindberg's play. Bergman presented Old Man Hummel as the mastermind in a web of crimes and lies. His hands covered in bloody rags, perhaps a reference to the murder he once committed and possibly also to Strindberg himself, who suffered from psoriasis while writing the play.
There were other biographical allusions in the production: an image of the house at Karlavägen 10, were Strindberg once lived (at the time it was also Bergman's Stockholm address) was projected on the black cloth that framed the stage, and the sparse décor included a statue whose features were somewhat reminiscent of the actress Harriet Andersson.
The production was staged without intermission on The Royal Dramatic Theatre's small Målarsalen. In the programme Bergman referred to The Ghost Sonata as 'a piece of fantasy', a term Strindberg had used in a letter to theatre director Victor Categren in 1908. Musically, the play has usually been associated with Beethoven's 'Gespenstersonal' but Bergman used Bela Bartok as musical accompaniment, though his fourth reading of Strindberg's play had the dark mood of Beethoven's piece.