After Miss Julie
After Miss Julie has the density and pace of a good short story, and will keep you guessing till the end.
Overview
"Tonight, July 26th, 1945, the servants of a country estate are celebrating the surprise landslide victory for Clement Attlee's Labour Party, over Winston Churchill's Conservatives. Post war change and hope is in the air."
Sounds of celebrations can be heard in the distance and you find yourself in John and Christine's kitchen, observing a private moment. Enter Miss Julie and the triangle is complete. It's as if you've been catapulted back in time and have landed in a tangled web of power, desire and fear.
You have Erroll Shand (Harry, Underbelly) as John, the swaggering chauffeur and Jodie Hillock (Tribes, Educating Rita) as Miss Julie, the ruthless, self-destructive daughter of the house who decides to command John’s attentions. Dena Kennedy (The Pride, Yours Truly) completes the line-up as John’s prudent, not-quite-fiancée, Christine.
One fateful night plays out around you and the fly-on-the-wall vantage point places you at the centre of it all. It's a journey of contrasts and extremes punctuated by wry humour; ego trips and vulnerable slips, loyalties and lies.
Originally written in 1888 by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, After Miss Julie was later modernised and given a British slant by playwright Patrick Marber. The deeply flawed characters are just as fascinating today as they were when Strindberg first created them and the themes just as relevant.
Kudos to director Cameron Rhodes for allowing the actors the freedom to take their characters on their own personal journey. The dynamic use of space also adds an extra dimension and creates an illusion of expansiveness in the intimate upstairs theatre. A fast-paced work of emotional intensity, After Miss Julie requires focus and stamina. The actors were certainly up to the challenge, filling out the characters and giving the impression of being a cast greater than three.
This Marber version of After Miss Julie is a well-measured production and it's a classy piece of theatre at that. Enjoyable is not the word I'd use to describe it, but not because I didn't enjoy it. A provocative character study with the psychological twists of a thriller, After Miss Julie has the density and pace of a good short story, and will keep you guessing till the end.
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