Show Finder

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. Theater for the New City presents 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 American social hierarchy that cautions 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.