chaos inevitably produced by re-action from the narrow conventionalism
represented by Manders.

With one consent, the leading theatres of the three Scandinavian
capitals declined to have anything to do with the play. It was more
than eighteen months old before it found its way to the stage at
all. In August 1883 it was acted for the first time at Helsingborg,
Sweden, by a travelling company under the direction of an eminent
Swedish actor, August Lindberg, who himself played Oswald. He took
it on tour round the principal cities of Scandinavia, playing it,
among the rest, at a minor theatre in Christiania. It happened that
the boards of the Christiania Theatre were at the same time
occupied by a French farce; and public demonstrations of protest
were made against the managerial policy which gave _Tete de
Linotte_ the preference over _Gengangere_. Gradually the prejudice
against the play broke down. Already in the autumn of 1883 it was
produced at the Royal (Dramatiska) Theatre in Stockholm. When the
new National Theatre was opened in Christiania in 1899, _Gengangere_
found an early place in its repertory; and even the Royal Theatre
in Copenhagen has since opened its doors to the tragedy.

Not until April 1886 was _Gespenster_ acted in Germany, and then
only at a private performance, at the Stadttheater, Augsburg, the
poet himself being present. In the following winter it was acted
at the famous Court Theatre at Meiningen, again in the presence of
the poet. The first (private) performance in Berlin took place on
January 9, 1887, at the Residenz Theater; and when the Freie Buhne,
founded on the model of the Paris Theatre Libre, began its
operations two years later (September 29, 1889), _Gespenster_ was
the first play that it produced. The Freie Buhne gave the initial