Kjeld Abell

Radical playwright, born in Ribe, SW Denmark. He was known for his innovative stage designs and effects. His plays include Melodien der blev væk (1935, The Melody That Got Lost), Anna Sophie Hedvig (1939), and Silkeborg (1946).

Kjeld Abell (25 August 1901–5 March 1961) was a Danish playwright and theatrical designer. Born in Ribe, Denmark, Abell's first designs were seen in ballets directed by George Balanchine at Copenhagen's Kongelige Teater and London's Alhambra Theatre.

Roughly the dramatic work of Abell might be divided into three phases: a) criticism of middle class conventions, b) fighting Nazism and c) criticism of post-war pessimism and urge for death.

His first play was Melodien, der blev vœk 1935, (English translation The Melody That Got Lost, 1939). The play is an expressionistic piece that utilizes non-verbal and unrealistic elements, undoubtedly inspired by ballet. The first production of this play was in 1935 in Copenhagen followed by a production a year later in London by the Arts Theatre. In this play Abell describes the life of the ”white collar worker” limited by old-fashioned conventions and it is a fantasy about the mental emancipation of “the little man”.

Both before and during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Abell used his plays to protest the loss of freedom. Themes in these plays explore freedom and escapism as self-annihilation. These works include Anna Sophie Hedvig (1939, English translation 1971), a defence of violence as a necessary mean against tyranny and a criticism of passive humanism, beyond any doubt inspired by the Spanish Civil War, and Dronning gaar igen (The Queen on Tour, 1943). Silkeborg (1946) expresses the criticism of Danish passivity and accept of the German occupation.

Following the war many of his plays took on complex mystical elements. These plays include Dage paa en sky ("Days on a Cloud", 1947), Den blå pekingeser ("The Blue Pekingese", 1954), Kameliadamen ("The Lady of the Camellias", 1954 - a personal version of the drama by Dumas) and Skriget (The Scream, English translation 1961). The much debated Dage paa en Sky both takes place among the Olympic goddesses and in the brain of a suicidal scientist, it warns against the atomic war and accuses scientists of prostituting themselves to the rulers.

Hailed in his prime as a fresh and humorous reformer, critic and teaser of Danish theatre and later respected for his anti-fascist attitudes Abell was after the war both accused of being a fellow traveller and criticised for being too complicated and strained.