The Ghost Sonata

Pictures

The Ghost Sonata is a modernist play in three parts by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, written in 1907. The characters speak, move and act as if they are part of a dream—or a nightmare. 

The play relates the adventures of a young student, who idealizes the lives of the inhabitants of a stylish apartment building in Stockholm. A mysterious man helps him find his way into the apartment, but he finds that it is a nest of betrayal, sickness and vampirism. The world, The Student learns, is hell and human beings must suffer to achieve salvation. -- Wikipedia

The BBC describes the plot this way: An old man in a wheelchair offers his patronage to a young student, on one condition -- that he goes to a performance of "The Valkyrie" and asks no questions.

A New York Times review about a 1994 version of the play notes that The Ghost Sonata is "a peculiarly frustrating work since it is so haunting but almost impossible to stage effectively." The review makes special mention of the version in which Jeremy appeared: 

Productions of The Ghost Sonata are rare, mostly because the play defeats actors and directors at every turn. The most memorable one that comes to mind was a BBC television version in 1962 with Robert Helpmann as the Old Man and Jeremy Brett -- 30 years before he became Sherlock Holmes -- as the Student.

The Student's monologue

IMDb page // BBC catalogue