LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
JANUARY 10 to 26, 2025
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.
You may remember having heard of this adaptation
before. It was originally scheduled for June 30 to July 7, 2024,
but had to be postponed the day of its opening when a member
of the three-person cast was injured and could not be replaced
in time. Now it is coming to Theater for the New City after
a six-month postponement.
"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 January 10 to 26, Theater
for the New City will present Strindberg Rep in a production,
translated from the Swedish, adapted and directed by Robert
Greer, that transplants Strindberg's story to a Long Island
country estate in 1925.
It's an Americanized retelling of Strindberg's
classic drama. The engagement of the Governor's daughter, Julie,
to the County District Attorney has just been broken off. It's
New Year’s Eve 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.
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 recently
appeared at TNC as Vivien Leigh in “Orson’s Shadow,”
written by Austin Pendelton and co-directed by Pendelton and
David Schweizer. Menna and Roche last appeared together at TNC
in the Strindberg Rep production of "Hedda Gabler"
in 2022 (she as Hedda, he as Judge Brack).
|
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.