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Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 4th October 2014
The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild are presenting August Strindberg's Miss Julie and Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, individually on week nights and as a double bill on Saturday nights during October. Both plays are directed by Geoff Brittain, and feature Nick Fagan as Jean/John, with Rosie Williams as Miss Julie and Cheryl Douglas as Miss Julie as Christine, in Miss Julie, then swapping roles in After Miss Julie. Miss Julie and After Miss Julie on the same programme permits us to see how little things changed over such a long period of time.
Strindberg's play is set in 1888 in Sweden during the Midsummer's Eve celebratory dance for the servants, and Marber's is set in 1945 in England where they are celebrating the Labour Party's overwhelming victory. The scripts are close to identical, other than some updated language. The two servants, Christine and Jean, have an understanding that they will marry. Their employer's daughter, Miss Julie, makes a play for Jean and succeeds in getting into his bed. The next morning, as their class difference sinks in and becoming aware of the shame that she will face if it becomes known, she regrets what has happened, and she and Jean/John discuss options. Christine enters and Miss Julie includes her in the plans, which drift further into wild fantasy.
The first of the two productions, Miss Julie, took a while to get going, perhaps due to nerves, with lines and moves showing initially. It soon settled down, though, and the characters emerged. Fagan gave us two quite different versions of Jean, his characterisations attuned to the two eras. He gives strong performances in both plays, with differing responses to each of the characterisations of Miss Julie.
First of the Miss Julies, Rosie Williams, gives us a coquettish young woman who, at first, seems to be merely playing with Jean, gradually becoming more serious and then, the next morning her regret turns to fear and panic, leading to a touch of insanity as she tries to reorder her life to avoid retribution.
Cheryl Douglas gives a very different interpretation, a more mature woman, showing greater sexual aggression in her approach to John. Her characterisation the following morning also differs with less panic and more determination to get away, ending with wild eyed craziness as she plots their collective future.
In both plays there are some good interactions between the characters, showing a considerable amount of thought being put in by Brittain and his cast. There is plenty of dramatic intensity, and a good range of highs and lows, with some great interaction between Fagan and each of the Miss Julies, Williams and Douglas, with fascinating interpretational variations in each pairing. The two actresses also find some interesting ways of interpreting the role of Christine.
In the end, the biggest difference between the two plays are the interpretations of the Miss Julies and this is more due to the different approaches taken by the two actresses than differences inherent in the plays. Director, Brittain, has brought out what differences do exist in the scripts, and made the most of the location and socio-economic changes.
This was a bold move by the Guild, and one that should pay off for them, with a theatrical classic and a modernisation of the same play juxtaposed, inviting comparison and discussion. Although Strindberg's play turns up from time to time, seeing a performance of Marber's is an uncommon chance. See both plays and enjoy the comparison.
