Strindberg’s importance for Swedish drama and theatre cannot be disputed. However, it is a love-hate relationship. In this article, debates about Swedish drama are studied as a trajectory, beginning with Strindberg’s complaints about the inadequate Swedish drama and theatre in the 1880s, and the establishment of his Intimate theatre in 1907, through Brita von Horn and the Swedish Dramatists’ Studio during the 1940s, ending with the national grant for Swedish new playwriting in 1999. It is suggested in the article that developing Swedish playwriting can be understood as an experimental endeavor in its own right.