Review of: After Miss Julie

August Strindberg’s Miss Julie is a classic, a bizarre and genre-defying classic, but one nonetheless. Certainly about class struggles and how sexual dominance can alter the status quo, bringing Strindberg’s power into a new light is tempting for any writer. Playwright Patrick Marber, if his body of work is any indication, is just the fellow to investigate the landscape from a new angle.

His setting is an estate outside London in the immediate post-WWII Europe, and the dividing walls between the aristocracy and the working class have crumbled even more than the beginning of their decline just after WWI. But the class structure still exists and can still decide one’s behavior. Watch how John, the estate chauffeur, jumps to answer his boss’ (master’s) bell – a Pavlovian response if ever there was one, and how Christine, John’s fiancée, can’t help but stand at attention when her “lady” is present. However, some rules have changed. Both John and Christine answer back to Miss Julie, the patriarch’s daughter, and even initiate conversation. No longer is there the mere compliance of a command, although to be sure the dynamic is still in place.

Except for some crackling new dialogue, Marber’s version doesn’t differ all that much from Strindberg’s. The seduction, the throes of a summer night passion, the rash idea to flee the country, the slit throat of Miss Julie’s pet bird, Christine’s ultimatum, and Miss Julie’s ultimate decision remain true to the original. Mr. Marber also uses dance as an expression of sex like Strindberg does, but here it is of a more subtle and eye-raising harbinger. If there is any change it is in the role of Christine who, despite her beauty even if less glamorous than Miss Julie’s, will not succumb to her destiny as a hausfrau, at least not right away. She subsequently becomes the most dominate of the trio, her middle-class values, instead of John’s lust for power, provoking the imminent bloody end. Though Strindberg disdained the peasantry for accepting their station, Marber seems to stress that it is Christine’s rational intelligence that rings the death knell for the aristocracy, even though it still peals today in the distance. The power of money and the animal in man are themes that continue to resonate throughout the play, but what Marber and director Mark Brokaw are emphasizing here is that the prison created by the old class structure is being replaced by the prison of a larger muddier all-encompassing class, period.

Mr. Marber’s title After Miss Julie presumably means in essence “after the fashion of”. But other reasons come to mind; that John and Christine are both in pursuit of Miss Julie for different reasons; that we are in a different environment, time wise- and culture-wise; that we might even be seeing the second generation of the original Miss Julie’s family (yes, it’s a stretch); and that, for me, the real play begins as the lights dim on this ending, in other words, what’s next.

Or perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but because the production is close to flawless, it allows for any number of plausible interpretations. Starting with Allen Moyer’s set, a kitchen with high windows, dark hallways and big doors, the idea of a large estate is easy to comprehend. The slate floor reverberates differently depending on who’s crossing it and the long dining/work table appropriately ends with a murderous well-worn butcher block. Magnificently lighted by Mark McCullough, the atmosphere is at once oppressive and expansive. Michael Krass has clothed the actors impeccably except for a rather unfortunate hat for Christine. And David Van Tieghem’s sound design, especially the off-stage party, begs the question, “is it live or is it…?” When the party is over, the silence is foreboding.

The actors are triumphant with the material. Marin Ireland does lovely, simple work establishing that Christine is a lovely, simple woman; and yet with her final confrontation brings with her a force that easily matches her fellow actors’. The only caveat of her performance is trying to determine where she’s from as her accent slides from one English speaking country to another. Jonny Lee Miller as John is un-showy and perfect – enough said. In the title role, Sienna Miller slides into a room like a panther proud of its sleekness. She exudes heat and superiority as second nature and attacks with surprise. You cannot take your eyes off her. She unfortunately relies on nail-biting to convey frustration and stress and plays Miss Julie’s situation for laughs (which to be sure she gets without trouble) instead of letting the absurdity of the situation take her to another level. Nevertheless, her imprint on the role will be difficult to erase. Of course none of this would be quite so good without Mr. Brokaw’s direction. He pulls all of the elements of theatre together to create an exciting whole right down to the curtain call.

In any event, after After Miss Julie, she and her situation will not be laid to rest any time soon.

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