Human nature doesn’t change much over time, and this is strongly demonstrated in Patrick Marber’s adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie. The original play premiered in 1888, and Marber’s adaptation is set in the 1940s, played out in front of a 2019 audience, and yet the dynamics are instantly recognisable. We see lust, jealousy, rage, social imbalance, and relate to them now as easily as the audiences from over 100 years ago.
After Miss Julie is set in the ‘downstairs’ of the home of a wealthy Labour peer. In spite of the background rumblings of the master’s involvement in socialism and welfare reform, two of the characters, John and Christine, played by James Reilly and Victoria Coleman, are servants in the house – he the chauffeur, she the cook. They were engaged before the war, and now that he’s back from the front, it seems that life may be able to go back to normal. However, their normal life seems destined to include the daughter of the house, Miss Julie, who is the centre of attention from the moment the play begins – even before she appears in the kitchen, John and Christine are talking about her.
The fact that this play is only three-handed allows a lot of emotional complexity to play out very clearly for the audience. We see John and Christine alone, in a steady, quiet existence, filled with no great passion, but with warmth and humour. This dynamic utterly changes as soon as Miss Julie, played by Eloise Sheffield, enters. She is brusque with Christine, flirtatious with John, and condescending to both. When Christine leaves and Miss Julie and John are alone, their interactions change again, with both characters manipulating, taunting, and lying to each other, until the audience is enthralled (and appalled) by both, and yet somehow, also somehow sympathetic to them. Taking an audience on such an emotional journey is the mark of some extremely good writing, and ElevenOne’s signature clever production and staging which brings it all together.
I think this is an excellent play; smart, bold, and for a period piece, utterly modern. Get down to the Old Fire Station and enjoy it for yourself! ★★★★☆ @BookingAround 8th February 2019
