LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
JUNE 27 TO JULY 7, 2024

Theater for the New City presents the August Strindberg Rep production of
MISS JULIE 1925
translated and directed by Robert Greer**

Production transports Strindberg's greatest masterpiece from a Swedish
manor house in 1888 to a Long Island country estate in 1925.

"Miss Julie" by August Strindberg centers on a proud, neurotic daughter of the degenerate aristocracy who is willing to sink her pride in a frenzied attempt to satisfy her love of sensation. Strindberg originally set the play in a Swedish manor house in 1888. From June 27 to July 7, Theater for the New City will present August Strindberg Rep in a production, translated from the Swedish and adapted by Robert Greer, that transplants Strindberg's story to a Long Island country estate in 1925.

In this Americanized retelling, the engagement of the Governor's daughter, Julie, to the County District Attorney has just been broken off. It's Fourth of July and an extravagant party is underway, parallel to the midsummer festivities in Strindberg’s play. Julie, a young woman of privileged birth, is headstrong, domineering and emotionally volatile. On this particular evening, she engages in flirtatious and provocative behavior with the servants, particularly Jean, her father's butler. The pair dance and drink at her insistence. Their dynamics are complex and fraught with tension, driven by a mix of attraction, power play, and deep-seated class resentments. Jean discloses that he has been obsessed with Julie since childhood. As the night progresses, their interactions become increasingly intimate and manipulative. She, despite her upper-class status, reveals her vulnerability and desperation. He, ambitious and cunning, sees an opportunity to exploit her emotional instability to elevate his social standing.

Hearing the Governor's roughneck field hands singing a lewd song about them, they hide in Jean's room to avoid being discovered by these rowdies. Leaving the room, it is revealed that Jean has seduced Julie there. They plan to flee to Mexico and open a hotel and she steals her father's cash box to pay for the trip. But the power balance has shifted. Julie's initial authority over Jean crumbles as he begins to assert dominance, revealing his contempt for her aristocratic pretensions and her emotional weakness. Ultimately their plan is thwarted when Jean's fiancée, Christine (the cook), announces that she, enroute to church, will tell the chauffeur not to give anybody the car keys should they try to get away before the Governor comes home. Unable to face the certain scandal, Julie walks out of the kitchen to see one last sunrise before tragically committing suicide.

Moving Strindberg's play, with its extreme class consciousness, to an American setting might seem surprising, but it's a peek into our American social hierarchy that cautions us against the 21st century redistribution of wealth which is becoming hardened in our society. The notion that America is a classless society has always been more myth than reality. In the jazz age, rich sections of Long Island, such as the Gold Coast, were known for their opulent mansions and wealthy residents, starkly contrasting the working-class individuals who served them. So the setting provides a backdrop of class distinction, mirroring the original play’s focus on class struggle.

The play will be acted by Natalie Menna (Julie), Mike Roche (Jean) and Holly O'Brien (Christine). Menna and Roche last appeared together at TNC in the August Strindberg Rep production of "Hedda Gabler" in 2022 (she as Hedda, he as Judge Brack). Menna and O'Brien last appeared together at TNC in January, 2024 in Menna's play "Hiroshi-Me, Me, Me!"

Natalie Menna (Hedda) and Mike Roche (Judge Brack) in "Hedda Gabler," adapted and directed by Robert Greer, at Theater for the New City, 2022. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

Costume design is by Billy Little. Lighting design is by Alexander Bartenieff.