Julie

by Polly Stenham

Wild and newly single, Julie throws a late-night party. In the kitchen, Jean and Kristina clean up as the celebration heaves above them. Crossing the threshold, Julie initiates a power game with Jean. It descends into a savage fight for survival. Polly Stenham reimagines August Strindberg’s Miss Julie in contemporary London. Julie premiered at the National Theatre, London, in May 2018.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction, Drama

62 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2018

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Julie Redeemed
A review of the Faber & Faber eBook (February 1, 2018) adapted by Polly Stenham from the original play Fröken Julie [Miss Julie] (1888) by August Strindberg.

As mentioned in my As Disturbing as Ever review of the Strindberg, I wanted to read the original and the adaptation before seeing the latter this weekend in Toronto. I was dreading it somewhat, but the Toronto cast and production totally redeemed it for me, that included making some wise decisions about the script.


Curtain call for Tara Sky (Kristina), Emily Anne Corcoran (Julie) and Jamar Adams-Thompson (Jean) after a performance of Polly Stenham's "Julie" by Icarus Theatre at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, Toronto, Canada. Photo source: own photo.

Stenham parallels the Strindberg very closely, but clear changes are made. Jean is from Ghana and Kristina from Brazil. The script says that heritage origin changes are allowed, so the Toronto production had Jean from the Ivory Coast and Kristina from a Canadian First Nation. So in addition to the battle of the sexes and class struggle of the original, Stenham adds a layer of Colonialists/Imperialists vs Immigrants/Subjugated to the mix.

The wisest script change decision in the Toronto production was to switch the blender scene (don't ask) to a simple kitchen knife. A blender would have been just too disgusting. Stenham's finale is onstage pills and alcohol (maintained in Toronto) as opposed to the offstage cutthroat razor of Strindberg.

It wasn't always obvious in the script but Toronto's Julie on stage became a much stronger figure as embodied by Corcoran and definitely assumed the commanding role of seduction with a beguiled Jean falling into her arms and then resenting it afterwards.

It is not really a play that you can love, but I can at least say that it was redeemed for me by Stenham's adaptation and the Toronto production that I saw.

Trivia and Links

Promotional poster for the 2018 National Theatre production.

The Polly Stenham adaptation was made for the National Theatre's 2018 production and was presumably seen in cinema theatres via NTLive back in the day. It can now still be viewed via streaming at National Theatre at Home. The 2018 production was directed by Carrie Cracknell and starred Vanessa Kirby as Julie and Eric Kofi Abrefa as Jean. You can see a trailer at NTatHome here or on YouTube here.

[Illiterate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because Stenham removes the guilt, fear, & consequences of seduction across classes, there’s little drive behind her version of this tragedy.

[Sofia Montague · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to have the same vibe as Yerma by Simon Stone but unfortunately it fell short. I found the only emotion driving this was anger and there wasn’t enough nuance in this. I think if there was more investment in the characters and not making it ‘gripping’ it could have been more successful

[Rytas Sakas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Čia kaip nulupt svogūną ir liept apsiverkt. My brother in Christ, nebėr apie ką, visi layers nulupti ir išmesti. Tik papūgėlė blendinta in a food processor, so there’s that

[F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping.

[Steve Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As gripping to read as it was to watch.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie in the most grating, obnoxious, piece of rich trash and Jean gets caught up in her narcissism. Feels a bit like an allegory. That ending though. Makes it worth it.

[Grace Leneghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will forever love the story of Miss Julie and this modern adaptation is both lyrical, beautiful and deeply disturbing.

[DarrenBrennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this modern feminist adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie rounded up to 4.

[Denise Hurd]

modern version of the play set in contemporary London

[amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

its so cool how the author creates such complex and layered characters within literally 50 pages

[Em Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice contemporary adaptation of Miss Julie.
mostly comedic
monologue for Kristina page 55 last scene
monologue for Julie page 52-53 last scene
monologue Jean page 47

[Romany Arrowsmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

National Theater Live subscription 2: Everything that was great about this was lifted directly from the original Strindberg play; this is the quintessential mark of an unnecessary adaptation, especially moving this story to the modern age without modernizing the economic relationships between the characters to be more recognizable to a 21st century audience.

E.g. Julie could have been made a nepo-baby CFO in this one, fucking around with her executive assistant, who is engaged to her HR person - something like that, especially since the central theme of Miss. Julie's identity confusion (being raised to "think and talk like a man") is drowned in this adaptation. It's hard to see a spoiled and unemployed lady in the 20-tens dallying with her chauffeur and housekeeper as taking on masculine attributes at all, in fact it makes her read as very classically feminine, unlike in the original, where women of that class would necessarily never have sought employment.