SOURCE: Davy, Daniel. “Strindberg's Unknown Comedy.” Modern Drama 15, no. 3 (1997): 305-24.

In the following essay, Davy analyzes Crimes and Crimes as a tragicomedy.

How could a play entitled Crime and Crime and obviously preoccupied with a conflict between forces of good and evil be devoid of moral content? 

—James L. Allen, Jr.¹

Don't you know this is the witching hour? That's when you hear things—and see things sometimes. Staying up all night has the same sort of magic as crime. Puts you over and above the laws of nature. 

—Crimes and Crimes²

August Strindberg's comedy Crimes and Crimes is not “unknown” because of Strindberg—the play is clearly designated “A Comedy” on the title page—but because of the virtual unanimity of critical response to the play which totally ignores this classification. Although a considerable degree of variability exists between individual shadings of interpretation, the vast majority of...