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Adapted by veteran playwright Howard Brenton, this is a faithful, often intense rendering of August Strindberg’s landmark play ‘Miss Julie’ about an upstairs-downstairs sexual flirtation between an earl’s daughter and his servant over one midsummer’s eve.
The power of Strindberg’s focus on class differences has inevitably dulled since he wrote it in the 1880s, but his musing on the inequality of sexual power in relationships feels as relevant as ever. If anything, watching this ‘Miss Julie’ in the middle of endless accounts of workplace abuse gives it new force and meaning.
Tom Littler’s mature, straightforward, production pays equal attention to the romantic fireworks – between Julie (Charlotte Hamblin) and Jean (James Sheldon) – and the playwright’s then radical desire to tell his story unadorned, with special regard for emotional complexity and contradictions. Realism has taken a few twists and turns since Strindberg first delivered his naturalistic statement of intent, shocking audiences with his kitchen-set portrayal of fiery romance and sex. So it’s hard now to get too excited about an approach we’ve taken for granted for decades. But still the thing that strikes you about the early moments of this production is that we’re being asked to observe everyday moments at some length before any dialogue kicks in. Later, we can even smell food being prepared on the hob, just as our ears are drawn beyond the kitchen to the party outside or church bells ringing.
Of course it’s the steamy triangle of Julie, Jean and Jean’s fiancée Christine (Izabella Urbanowicz) that keeps the interest properly piqued. Hamblin is strong as Julie, keeping us guessing as to her real thoughts and motivations along the way, and convincing as a troubled seductress. Sheldon, meanwhile, holds the sturdy moral high ground without being preachy, while Urbanowicz finds colour in the smaller but still important role of Jean’s not-so-stupid partner. Times change, but some human follies remain remarkably similar.