Plays by Lars Noren: Blood -- War

Lars Norén, generally considered Sweden's greatest playwright since August Strindberg, has written about 75 plays. While they are regularly performed in Nordic and European countries and have been translated into several languages, English-language readers were deprived of his major works until 2013, when Chaucer Press Books published Two Plays: And Give Us the Shadows and Autumn and Winter, followed by Three Plays: Demons, Act, and Terminal 3 (2014). This volume presents two more of Norén's major plays in English, including: ¿ Blood (1994), about a wife and husband tormented over their missing son and the husband's male lover, who are eventually brought together in a heartrending denouement as the unbearable truth of their lives is revealed; and ¿ War (2005), a raw depiction of a family reduced to mere survival, set in an unnamed war-torn country. Their world explodes when the mother and her daughters must confront the unexpected return of her husband-who was presumed to be killed in action-and is now blind and virtually devoid of any humanity. TRANSLATOR: Translator Marita Lindholm Gochman was born in Sweden and came to America in 1964, where she has had a rich theatrical career. In 1985, she translated her first Norén play into English, The Last Supper, and since then has worked with him on 25 of his plays-making her Norén's foremost English language translator. Since 1987 Ms. Gochman has served as a board member of Circle in the Square, The International Theatre Institute, and The Signature Theatre. ENDORSEMENTS: "Lars Norén, regarded by many as the greatest Swedish playwright since Strindberg, has dealt with the love-hate relationships of modern dysfunctional families in emotionally powerful and sombre plays spiced with absurd humour."-Encyclopedia Britannica Online "He has made the present time our home and exposed the anxiety beneath the surface of the welfare state."-Per Wastberg, former chairman of International PEN and editor-in- chief of Sweden's largest daily newspaper.