If the name of August Strindberg means anything at all to the average theatergoer, it usually means a Swedish playwright who came along after Ibsen and who has since been praised by such dramatists as Shaw, O'Neill, and Thornton Wilder, who regard him as one of their teachers. Indeed, the position of Strindberg seems to have been set at half-way between Ibsen and O'Neill in the field of modern, naturalistic drama; and since the former spells death at the box-office and the latter is a commercial risk, Strindberg, by association, has been deprived of his place on the professional stage, (except in rare revivals of "Miss Julie," a one-act play).

However, two brave individuals, Richard W. Krakeur and Robert L. Joseph, have produced one of Stringberg's finest plays, "The Father," and have given it such an intelligent production that it seems as if the jinx may at last be broken. Using Mr. Joseph's English version of the play, and with a cast headed by Raymond Massey and Mady Christians, the Messrs. Krakeur and Joseph have provided the theater with one of its most interesting and exciting entertainments in a long while.

The story of "The Father" is quite simple. A husband and wife are fighting a war of brains for the control of their daughter. The battle has been going on for some time and in the 24-hour course of the play the immediate cause of the trouble is what kind of an education the girl shall have. In order to strengthen her side, the mother hints that her husband is not the girl's father. Suspicion foments in his mind, he suffers an attack of insanity, and the wife then wins control over "her" child.

Though "The Father" is a modern drama regardless of its age, (it was first produced in 1887), certain elements in the dialogue date it somewhat. One of these is Strindberg's preoccupation with scientific discoveries, particularly new theories in eugenics and pre-Freudian psychology, and he makes his characters use these as motivations for their actions. However, where O'Neill's characters are products of the laboratory and only clinically interesting, Strindberg's are stimulating to both the emotions and the intellect.

Had I the authority, I think I would say that Raymond Massey is giving the performance of his career in the title role. However, I have not seen Mr. Massey as Abraham Lincoln--his most famous role--so can only say that his other stage and screen characterizations have never impressed me as much as this one does. Playing two acts as an insane person is a trying test for any actor, and Mr. Massey does a really credible job of it. Miss Christians, as the wife, is hard, unrelenting, cruel; she acts the part with great subtlety and restraint. The excellence of all the performers owes much to Mr. Massey, who directed the play also.

Though Bernard Shaw has called Strindberg "the only genuine Shakespeare modern dramatist," there is no need to go to the Plymouth in either a devotional or dutiful attitude. What you will see is a bitter, provocative, misogynic drama matched with a trenchant performance.