Julie, National Theatre review - vacuous and unilluminating Vanessa Kirby leads superfluous update that is a lot more Stenham than Strindberg . Share. If we’re such bleeding-heart liberals, shouldn’t our empathy extend to Julie?Cracknell’s direction is astonishing in its detail – like the way it repeatedly rationalises and then shatters the fantasy of Julie and Jean’s elopement, or deals with Julie’s poor pet finch – but conflicted in its scope. National Theatre Poster Archive . The question only begs: Why bother?Tom Scutt’s design is bright and slick. When Kristina leaves, Julie and Jean think their escape is in the other person and they sleep together. Whilst setting, plot and, to a certain extent, the bare bones of the text, afford plenty… A clever piece of Carrie Cracknell’s direction sees the worn out party guests exit the stage through the cupboards of the kitchen, ominously closing them as they leave: a suggestion that debauchery and wickedness hides in the walls of the very house, as in Julie’s ruined mind. Photo: Richard H Smith2324-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-Smith2389-Vanessa-Kirby-as-Julie-and-Eric-Kofi-Abrefa-as-Jean-in-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-Smith3090-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-Smith3176-Eric-Kofi-Abrefa-as-Jean-and-Thalissa-Teixeira-as-Kristina-in-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-Smith3248-Thalissa-Teixeira-as-Kristina-in-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-Smith3479--Vanessa-Kirby-as-Julie-in-Julie-at-the-National-Theatre-(c)-Richard-H-SmithAugust Strindberg’s classic, in the hands of Polly Stenham and Carrie Cracknell, updated and enriched, is a piece that pulls in polar directions. Stenham's dialogue is too eloquent and in control to convince, yet too sewn into its situation to acknowledge itself as theatre. You know, right from the start, how this plays out. Julie is still traumatised by finding her mother’s dead body, and Kirby’s unravelling is like watching someone decompose on stage.She’s horrible to Jean, racist even, and betrays Kristina, but Stenham dares us not to dislike her. This casting offers a visual signifier of racial hierarchy, but assuming Jean’s position as an economic migrant places his motives in the financial realm. In Stenham’s version, Julie is throwing an all-night birthday party at which she idles between wild dancing, coke snorting and the odd tantrum. It’s not pleasant to watch, doesn’t want to be, nor should it be.But what it does magnificently, layering up the contradictions and ambivalences of being human, is to pick apart the hypocrisies of the kind of middle-class liberals that might go and see an adaptation of Miss Julie at the National Theatre. Invest in The Stage today with a subscription starting at just £3.98 We use cookies so we can provide you with the best online experience.
There’s a slight unevenness to Eric Kofi Abrefa’s performance as Jean, from the sensible, suited chauffeur trying to climb the class rungs to a slightly whiny fantasist talking about eloping to Cape Verde with Julie. She has integrity stronger than Julie, who instead seeks improvement through the way people perceive her. Julie review – Polly Stenham's modern take on Strindberg misses the mark Lyttelton, London The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby impresses but this updated version of … Click on the banner to find out more.Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa in Julie at the National Theatre. Physically her performance is incredibly open, her hands constantly sweeping over her face or chest, climbing on the table in a floaty dress, almost like she’s dancing.But, mentally, she is a brick wall. Another added element is that both Jean (Eric Kofi Abrefa) and Julie’s maid Kristina (Thalissa Tiexeira), are people of colour. Julie is 30 (again) and the hard partying continues upstairs as Brazilian maid Kristina and her fiance Jean, the family chauffeur, clean up the basement kitchen – a gloriously sleek set by Tom Scutt, with an endless row of white, soft-close cupboards and tastefully exposed concrete. Julie National Theatre 3 Stars Book Now. At another point – far before the final scene – she picks up a small shard of glass or plastic and, trance-like, starts to tickle her own wrist with it. Inscrutable.
It delights and distresses and aggravates all at the same time.
BAFTA winner Vanessa Kirby tops it off supremely. Dominic Cavendish, Theatre Critic 8 June 2018 • 9:15am.
As a whole, Stenham’s adaptation is brilliantly clever, but a lot of the individual lines land strangely, or sound a little naff.When it’s so full of these tensions and torsions, it’s difficult to know how to process it. There's too much heat between Julie and Jean for them to resist one another, and too much tying them down for that not to go wrong. Her career has seen her as a stage manager in the West End, company manager at the Edinburgh Fringe and a critic both in London and at the Fringe. She is now directing an original play that starts its UK tour in April, and wants to continue reviewing theatre to keep her inspired by the diversity of the form.This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. He has also written for the Guardian and Time Out, and has worked as a producer on BBC Radio 4. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. The original Miss Julie was written in 1888, and the old text casts a poignant reflection of the world that shaped it. He also claimed that ‘Women should be supressed, like barbarians and thieves’, … Julie National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th June 2018 I am not sure if I like Strindberg's play Miss Julie. Though at times entertaining and darkly humorous, the climax of the play fails to trigger a real sense of outrage.Jessica Wretlind studied English and pursued acting before realising her dream to write and direct theatre.
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