Miss Julie

by August Strindberg
(February 2009)

"Take my advice, Miss Julie, don't step down. Nobody will believe you did it on purpose. The people will always say that you fell down...Perhaps at the bottom, there is not much difference between one kind of person and another."

Miss Julie is a masterpiece of passion and betrayal, written by one of the foremost playwrights of the modern era.

Miss Julie was written by August Strindberg as one of his series of naturalistic plays in the 1890's. Much like Henric Ibsen, he later moved on to fantasy plays. But, about Miss Julie he has been quoted as saying that this play is a "battle to the death" between the two leads. Strindberg had been an early champion of women's rights, but later was highly critical of the movement. He also supported the worker's movement. In John, Strindberg has written the servant who is unhappy with his lot in life, and dreams of much more. Christine represents the type of working class character that is happy with her lot in life, something Strindberg despised in the lower classes. Miss Julie represents the collapse of the upper orders. Miss Julie seems like a likely source of inspiration for Tennesee William's dreamy Blanche Dubois in "A Streetcar Named Desire". John could be Stanley Kowalski, as in William's play, the old south, the genteel nobility of learning and manners is overrun by the rising working class.

In Miss Julie, words are the weapons of choice.

And there are casualties.

Starring Hannah Smith, Justin Robertson, Claire Nottman Izabella Knap, and Signy Lynch at the Wellington Street Theatre.