1888 play by August Strindberg
Miss Julie
|
---|
First
Miss Julie
production, November 1906, The People's Theatre,
Stockholm
. Sacha Sjostrom (left) as Kristin, Manda Bjorling as Miss Julie and August Falck as Jean
|
Written by
| August Strindberg
|
---|
Characters
| Miss Julie, Jean, Christine
|
---|
Date premiered
| 14 March 1889
(
1889-03-14
)
|
---|
Original language
| Swedish
|
---|
Genre
| Naturalism
|
---|
Miss Julie
(
Swedish
:
Froken Julie
) is a
naturalistic
play written in 1888 by
August Strindberg
. It is set on Midsummer's Eve and the following morning, which is Midsummer and the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. The setting is an estate of a
count
in Sweden. Miss Julie is drawn to a senior servant, a
valet
named Jean, who is well-traveled and well-read. The action takes place in the kitchen of Miss Julie's father's manor, where Jean's fiancee, a servant named Christine, cooks and sometimes sleeps while Jean and Miss Julie talk.
Themes
[
edit
]
One theme of the play is
Darwinism
,
[1]
[2]
a theory that was a significant influence on the author during his naturalistic period. This theme is stated explicitly in the preface, where Strindberg describes his two lead characters, Miss Julie and Jean, as vying against each other in an evolutionary "life and death" battle for a survival of the fittest. The character of Miss Julie represents the last of a dying aristocratic breed and serves to characterize women in
modernity
. Jean represents one who is clambering upwards and who is fitter to thrive because he is more adaptable in terms of the "life roles" he can take on.
The play has various themes, partly because Miss Julie's actions are motivated by a range of factors and influences: her class, her desires and impulsive nature, her father, and the dynamic traumas of her family histories. In utilizing the naturalistic style, the author goes against the dominant theatrical idea that says that characters should be written with only one primary motivation.
[3]
[4]
The author's preface
[
edit
]
Miss Julie
is preceded by an author's preface, which is considered a significant manifesto of naturalism in the theatre. In it Strindberg states that the source of the play is an actual story he once heard, which made a strong impression on him, and which "seemed appropriate for tragedy, for it still seems tragic to see someone favored by fortune go under, much more to see a family die out."
[5]
Strindberg describes both Jean and Miss Julie as representations of their classes and society. The people in the play are described by Strindberg as "modern characters living in an age of transition [...] more vacillating and disintegrating than their predecessors, a mixture of the old and the new."
[6]
The preface to the play may not be the best guide to the play, and is at times in variance with the play itself. The preface urges naturalism and deterministic readings of the play, but the play seems to offer more anti-naturalism and even feminist readings. Strindberg's play may have other values than his own critical assessment.
[7]
In the preface, Strindberg discusses aristocracy and classism beyond what occurs in the play itself.
Naturalism
[
edit
]
Strindberg wrote this play with the intention of abiding by the theories of "naturalism"?both his own version, and also the version described by the French novelist and literary theoretician
Emile Zola
. Zola's term for naturalism is
la nouvelle formule
. The three primary principles of naturalism (
faire vrai, faire grand
and
faire simple
) are:
- Faire vrai
: The play should be realistic and the result of a careful study of human behavior and psychology. The characters should be flesh and blood; their motivations and actions should be grounded in their heredity and environment. The presentation of the play in terms of the setting and performances should be realistic and not flamboyant or theatrical. The single setting of
Miss Julie
, for example, is a kitchen.
- Faire grand
: The conflicts in the play should be issues of meaningful, life-altering significance?not small or petty.
- Faire simple
: The play should be simple?not cluttered with complicated sub-plots or lengthy expositions.
Strindberg believed that
French playwrights
had been unable to achieve naturalism in their writings, and he felt that he could.
Miss Julie
is not only successful as a naturalistic drama, but it is a play that has achieved the rare distinction of being performed on stages all over the world every year since it was written in 1888.
[8]
Origins of the play
[
edit
]
The play was written as Strindberg was creating a new theatre of his own, the Scandinavian Naturalistic Theater, which would be founded in Copenhagen.
Miss Julie
would be the premier offering. Strindberg's wife,
Siri von Essen
, would star in the title role, and she would also be the artistic director. After Strindberg agreed to a small amount of censorship, the play was published a few weeks before the first production. (The first English translations also contain these censored excisions. For example, the first audiences were spared the shock of hearing Miss Julie, in an angry moment, compare making love to Jean to an act of bestiality.) With disastrous timing for new theater, the censors announced during the dress rehearsal that
Miss Julie
would be forbidden. However, Strindberg managed to get around the censors by having
Miss Julie
premiere a few days later at the Copenhagen University Student Union.
[9]
[10]
Characters
[
edit
]
Miss Julie:
Strong-willed daughter of the Count who owns the estate. Raised by her late mother to "think like and act like a man," she is a confused individual: she is aware of the power she holds, but switches between being above the servants and flirting with Jean, her father's manservant. She longs to fall from her pillar, an expression symbolically put across as a recurring dream she has.
Jean:
Manservant to the Count. He tells a story of seeing Miss Julie many times as a child and loving her even then, but the truth of the story is later denied (there is good evidence both for and against its veracity). Jean left the town and traveled widely, working many different jobs as he went, before finally returning to work for the count. He has aspirations to rise from his station in life and manage his own hotel, and Miss Julie is part of his plan. He is alternately kind and callous. Despite his aspirations, he is rendered servile by the mere sight of the count's gloves and boots.
Christine
(or Kristine): The cook in the Count's household. She is devoutly religious and apparently betrothed to Jean, although they refer to this marriage almost jokingly.
The Count:
Miss Julie's father. He is never seen, but his gloves and his boots are on stage, serving as a reminder of his power. When a bell sounds, his presence is also noted more strongly.
Plot
[
edit
]
The play opens with Jean walking on the stage, the set being the kitchen of the manor. He drops the Count's boots off to the side but still within view of the audience; his clothing shows that he is a valet. Jean talks to Christine about Miss Julie's peculiar behavior. He considers her mad since she went to the barn dance, danced with the gamekeeper, and tried to waltz with Jean, a mere servant of the Count. Christine delves into Miss Julie's background, stating how, unable to face her family after the humiliation of breaking her engagement, she stayed behind to mingle with the servants at the dance instead of going with her father to the
Midsummer's Eve
celebrations. Miss Julie got rid of her fiance seemingly because he refused her demand that he jump over a riding whip she was holding. The incident, apparently witnessed by Jean, was similar to training a dog to jump through a hoop.
Jean takes out a bottle of fine wine with a "yellow seal" and reveals, by the way he flirts with her, that he and Christine are engaged. Noticing a stench, Jean asks what Christine is cooking so late on Midsummer's Eve. The pungent mixture turns out to be an
abortifacient
for Miss Julie's dog, which was impregnated by the gatekeeper's mongrel. Jean calls Miss Julie "too stuck-up in some ways and not proud enough in others," traits apparently inherited from her mother. Despite Miss Julie's character flaws, Jean finds her beautiful or perhaps simply a stepping stone to achieve his lifelong goal of owning an inn. When Miss Julie enters and asks Christine if the "meal" has finished cooking, Jean instantly shapes up, becoming charming and polite. Jokingly, he asks if the women are gossiping about secrets or making a witch's broth for seeing Miss Julie's future suitor.
After more niceties, Miss Julie invites Jean once more to dance the waltz, at which point he hesitates, pointing out that he already promised Christine a dance and that the gossip generated by such an act would be savage. Almost offended by this response, Julie justifies her request by pulling rank: she is the lady of the house and must have the best dancer as her partner. Then, insisting that rank does not matter, she convinces Jean to waltz with her. When they return, Miss Julie recounts a dream of climbing up a pillar and being unable to get down. Jean responds with a story of creeping into her walled garden as a child―he saw it as "the Garden of Eden, guarded by angry angels with flaming swords"―and, from under a pile of stinking weeds, gazing at her longingly. He says he was so distraught with this unrequitable love that, after seeing her at a Sunday church service, he tried to die beautifully and pleasantly by sleeping in a bin of oats strewn with elderflowers, as sleeping under an elder tree was thought to be dangerous.
At this point Jean and Miss Julie notice some servants heading up to the house, singing a song that mocks the pair of them. They hide in Jean's room. Although Jean swears he won't take advantage of her there, when they emerge later it becomes clear that the two have had sex. Now they are forced to figure out how to deal with it, as Jean theorizes that they can no longer live in the same household because he feels they will be tempted to continue their relationship until they are caught. Now he confesses that he was only pretending when he said he had tried to commit suicide out of love of her. Furiously, Miss Julie tells him of how her mother raised her to be submissive to no man. They then decide to run away together to start a hotel, with Jean running it and Miss Julie providing the capital. Miss Julie agrees and steals some of her father's money, but angers Jean when she insists on bringing her little bird along saying that the bird is the only creature that loves her, after her dog Diana was "unfaithful" to her. When Miss Julie insists that she would rather kill the bird than see it in the hands of strangers, Jean cuts off its head.
In the midst of this confusion, Christine comes downstairs, ready to go to church. She is shocked by Jean and Miss Julie's planning and unmoved when Miss Julie asks her to come along with them as head of the kitchen of the hotel. Christine explains to Miss Julie about God and forgiveness and heads off for church, telling them as she leaves that she will tell the stablemasters not to let them take out any horses so that they cannot run off. Shortly after, they receive word that Miss Julie's father, the Count, has returned. At this, both lose courage and find themselves unable to go through with their plans. Miss Julie realizes that she has nothing to her name, as her thoughts and emotions were taught to her by her mother and her father. She asks Jean if he knows of any way out for her. He takes a shaving razor and hands it to her. The play ends as she walks through the door with the razor, presumably to commit suicide.
Performances and adaptations
[
edit
]
The work is widely known for its many adaptations.
- In 1912,
Anna Hofman-Uddgren
directed a film version, based on her own and Gustaf Uddgren's screenplay; Manda Bjorling played Julie and August Falck played Jean (based in turn on the stage production in Stockholm in 1906).
[11]
- In 1913, with the title
Countess Julia
, it was directed by
Mary Shaw
on
Broadway
at the
48th Street Theatre
for three performances.
[12]
- In 1922,
Felix Basch
directed the German
silent
version
starring
Asta Nielsen
,
William Dieterle
, and
Lina Lossen
.
[13]
[14]
- In 1935, it was revived at the
Arts Theatre
in London in a translation by Roy Campbell with
Rosalinde Fuller
as Julie and
Robert Newton
as Jean.
[15]
- In 1947, it was adapted as the Argentine film
The Sin of Julia
. It was directed by
Mario Soffici
and featured
Amelia Bence
and
Alberto Closas
as the main characters.
- In 1949, it was performed at the
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
, London with Joan Miller
[16]
as Julie and
Duncan Lamont
as Jean.
[17]
- In 1950,
Birgit Cullberg
made a ballet version to music of
Ture Rangstrom
.
- In 1951,
Alf Sjoberg
made a
film version
from his own screenplay.
[18]
- In 1956,
Dennis Vance
directed a television version, with
Mai Zetterling
and
Tyrone Power
as Julie and Jean.
[19]
- In 1960, it was performed in Elizabeth Sprigg's translation at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London with
Diane Cilento
as Julie and Leon Peers as Jean.
[17]
- In 1962, it was directed by
Alf Sjoberg
on Broadway at the
Cort Theatre
for three performances, with
Inga Tidblad
as Miss Julie and
Ulf Palme
as Jean.
[12]
- In 1965, it was adapted as
an opera
by
Ned Rorem
to an English libretto by Kenward Elmslie.
- In 1973,
Antonio Bibalo
wrote an opera (revised in 1975) which has been performed over 160 times in Germany.
- In 1974,
John Glenister
and
Robin Phillips
directed a television version, with
Helen Mirren
and
Donal McCann
as Julie and Jean.
[20]
- In 1977,
William Alwyn
's
opera
, with an English libretto adapted from the play by the composer, was premiered as a BBC Radio 3 broadcast.
- In 1977,
Louise Lee
played the Hong Kong version of Miss Julie in an episode of a TV series directed by
Patrick Tam (film director)
as an early work of his filming career. This 7-episode TV series with the name meaning "7 Females" attempted to depict the stories of 7 different females in the late 70's of Hong Kong.
- In 1983,
Judy Davis
and
Colin Friels
performed the play at the
Nimrod Theatre
in Sydney.
[21]
- The 1984
Internationalist Theatre
London production was characterized by the disruption of ethnic preconceptions with a "small,dark"
Angelique Rockas
depicting Miss Julie in a performance of great depth
[22]
Garry Cooper
played Jean.
[23]
[24]
- In 1986, Bob Heaney and Mikael Wahlforss directed a television adaptation, set in South Africa in the 1980s, in which the two main characters were separated by race as well as class and gender.
[25]
It was based on a 1985 stage production at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.
Sandra Prinsloo
played Julie and
John Kani
played Jean.
- In 1987, Michael Simpson directed a television version, in which
Patrick Malahide
played Jean and
Janet McTeer
played Julie.
- In 1991, David Ponting directed a television version, in which Sean Galuszka played Jean and Eleanor Comegys played Julie.
[26]
- In 1995,
Patrick Marber
wrote and directed
After Miss Julie
, in which the events of the play were transposed to an
English country house
on the eve of the Labour Party's landslide 1945 General Election win. The play was staged in 2003.
[27]
- In 1995,
Braham Murray
directed a production at the
Royal Exchange, Manchester
with
Amanda Donohoe
as Miss Julie,
Patrick O'Kane
as Jean and Marie Francis as Christine.
- In 1995, a new version by Roger Sansom opened at the
Kenneth More Theatre
, London with Jay Berry and thereafter Juliet Dover as Julie, opposite Robert Flint as Jean.
- In 1999,
Mike Figgis
made a
film version
from a screenplay by Helen Cooper;
Saffron Burrows
played Julie and
Peter Mullan
played Jean.
- In 2005, it was adapted as
an opera
by
Philippe Boesmans
to a German libretto by Luc Bondy.
- In July 2006, a new translation by
Frank McGuinness
was produced at the
Theatre Royal, Bath
by director
Rachel O'Riordan
. Set in 19th-century
Northern Ireland
; this version relies on the tension between the
Roman Catholic
Irish
servant class and
Anglo-Irish
Protestant
gentry to carry Strindberg's message to an
English-speaking
audience.
- In 2009, the
Roundabout Theatre Company
produced
After Miss Julie
in New York, directed by
Mark Brokaw
and starring
Sienna Miller
,
Jonny Lee Miller
and
Marin Ireland
(as Christine).
- In 2009, Toronto's
CanStage
staged a new version titled
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer
. Set in
Mississippi
in 1964, with Julie recontextualized as the daughter of a
plantation
owner and John as her father's
African-American
chauffeur
, playwright
Stephen Sachs
wove in themes of racial violence and
miscegeny
against the backdrop of the
American Civil Rights Movement
. This production starred
Caroline Cave
and
Kevin Hanchard
.
[28]
- In 2010, The
Schaubuhne
produced a new version from the perspective of the fiancee, Kristin's perspective with live video and foley effects directed by
Katie Mitchell
and
Leo Warner
.
[29]
- In 2011 on stage of Theatre of Nations (Moscow), directed by
Thomas Ostermeier
. The action of the play is set in contemporary Russia for which one of Russia's most called-for new generation playwrights, Mikhail Durnenkov, wrote especially for Theatre of Nations a new version of the play. All the main story lines are preserved, while the dialogues have been rewritten in modern lexicon.
[30]
- In 2012,
Andrew Dallmeyer
directed a Vagabond Productions version of the play in Edinburgh.
[31]
- In April 2012,
Sarah Frankcom
directed a 4-hand version by
David Eldridge
at the
Royal Exchange, Manchester
with
Maxine Peake
as Miss Julie,
Joe Armstrong
as Jean,
Carla Henry
as Kristin and
Liam Gerrard
as The Fiddler.
[32]
Maxine Peake won a
Manchester Theatre Award
for best actress in 2013.
- In July 2012,
Yael Farber
's contemporary reworking set in South Africa, titled
Mies Julie
, was premiered by
Cape Town
's
Baxter Theatre Centre
. The show was performed at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2012 as part of Assembly Festival's South African Season, then transferred to
St. Ann's Warehouse
in New York City and on 7 February 2014 opened at the Octagon Theatre in Perth (Western Australia) as part of the
Perth International Arts Festival
program.
[33]
- In 2013,
Liv Ullmann
directed
a film adaptation
set in Ireland, with
Jessica Chastain
as the eponymous character and
Colin Farrell
as Jean.
[34]
- In 2015, Fia-Stina-Sandlund directed the movie
She's Wild Again Tonight
, a contemporary and radical interpretation of
Miss Julie
starring
Gustaf Noren
and
Shima Niavarani
. With feminism and anti-racism as weapons,
She's Wild Again Tonight
examines the modern gender roles in the young urban conscious sphere and blurs the boundaries between reality, drama and fiction.
[35]
- In May 2016,
Melbourne Theatre Company
presented an adaptation of
Miss Julie
adapted and directed by
Kip Williams
- In May 2017, an adaptation by Garret David Kim and directed by Andrew Watkins was presented at Access theater in New York City.
[36]
- In 2018, it was adapted (in a contemporary reworking) as an opera
Juliana
by
Joseph Phibbs
to an English libretto by Laurie Slade.
[37]
- In 2018, a contemporary adaptation by
Polly Stenham
starring
Vanessa Kirby
titled
Julie
opened at the
Royal National Theatre
in London. It was broadcast worldwide as a
National Theatre Live
screening.
[38]
- In spring 2019, an adaptation by
Hilary Bettis
set during Miami's
Art Basel
festival, titled "Queen of Basel", premiered at
Studio Theatre
in Washington, D.C.
[39]
- In 2021, Amy Ng set a version in 1948
Hong Kong
. It followed the plot quite faithfully but added the background of post World War 2 Hong Kong adjusting to life in the
British Empire
and the rise of Communist China. It played on-line and at
The Southwark Playhouse
in London.
[40]
[41]
- In 2021, Michael Omoke’s adaptation “Miss Julie’s Happy Valley” had its world premiere in Denmark’s Folketeatret and subsequently toured to Finland where it debuted at Helsinki University of Arts. Omoke’s reworked script, set in Karen Blixen era Kenya under British rule of the first half in the last century, bases the title character ,Miss Julie, as a portrait of countess Alice de Janze, the real life American Native New Yorker married into French Aristocracy, who scandalized British Kenya’s "White Highlands" of 1920s - 1940s as the femme fatale member of Happy Valley. The expression “Happy Valley” was coined to a group of ultra-privileged Aristocrats infamous for their debauched hedonistic lifestyle in the colony ( at the expense of “natives” ) whose story was told in the 1980s film 'White Mischief'.They captured world imagination when their unelected leader, Josslyn Victor Hay 22nd Early of Erroll was found dead in his Buick the morning of 28th Jan 1941. Countess Alice de Janze, whom Lord Erroll conducted a clandestine relationship with, tragically committed suicide the same year. To date, 81 years later, the crime remains one of the century's great unresolved mystery. ‘Miss Julie Happy Valley’ unequivocally solves it once and for all.
[
citation needed
]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
In season 3 of
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
, Sophie Lennon (played by
Jane Lynch
) plays the titular character in a disastrous adaptation of the play.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Meyer, Michael, translator. "Commentary". Strindberg, August.
Miss Julie
. Bloomsbury Methuen Drama (2013).
ISBN
9781472536532
. page xxxi
- ^
Robinson, Michael. "Introduction". Strindberg, August.
Miss Julie and Other Plays
. Oxford University Press (1998).
ISBN
9780191605321
. page xiv.
- ^
Strindberg, August. Carlson, Harry G. translator.
Strindberg: Five Plays
. University of California Press.1983.
ISBN
0-520-04698-6
.
- ^
Lamm, Martin. Carlson, Harry G. translator and editor.
August Strindberg
. Benjamin Bloom, Inc. 1971
- ^
Strindberg, Johan August. Robinson, Michael, editor and introduction.
Miss Julie and Other Plays
. Oxford University Press, 1998.
ISBN
9780191605321
- ^
Strindberg, August. "Author's Preface." Preface. Miss Julie. San Francisco, CA: Chandler Pub., 1961. N. pag. Print.
- ^
Templeton, Alice. "
Miss Julie
as 'A Naturalistic Tragedy'",
Theatre Journal
42.4 (1990): 468?80. Web.
- ^
Madsen, Borge Gedso.
Strindberg's Naturalistic Theatre
. Russell & Russell.1962.
ISBN
0-8462-1729-5
- ^
Meyer, Michael.
Strindberg
. Random House. 1985.
ISBN
0-394-50442-9
- ^
Lagercrantz, Olof.
August Strindberg
. Farrar Straus Giroux. 1984
- ^
Miss Julie
(1912)
at
IMDb
- ^
a
b
Miss Julie
at the
Internet Broadway Database
- ^
Reimer, Robert C.; Reimer, Carol J. (2010).
The A to Z of German Cinema
. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 214.
ISBN
978-0-8108-7611-8
.
- ^
Fraulein Julie
(1922)
at
IMDb
- ^
John Parker (ed.),
Who's Who In The Theatre
(London: Pitman, 1936), p. 130
- ^
Miller, Joan.
"Joan Miller"
.
IMDb
. Amazon
. Retrieved
3 July
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Miss Julie by Stringberg on stage in London - theatre tickets and information"
.
- ^
Froken Julie
(1951)
at
IMDb
- ^
Miss Julie
(1956)
at
IMDb
- ^
Miss Julie
(1974)
at
IMDb
- ^
"AusStage"
.
www.ausstage.edu.au
. Retrieved
2017-12-22
.
- ^
Jo Stanley (historian)
https://archive.org/details/MorningStarProfoundConflictArticle
- ^
Michael Robinson (2008).
An International Annotated Bibliography of Strindberg Studies section 12 1378
.
ISBN
9780947623821
– via books.google.co.uk.
- ^
Miss Julie :Press File.
https://archive.org/details/profoundconflictreviewbyjostanleyinmorningstarofmissjulie2feb1984_202001
- ^
Miss Julie
(1986)
at
IMDb
- ^
Miss Julie
(1991)
at
IMDb
- ^
Guardian
, 26 November 2003
- ^
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer
Archived
2014-02-03 at the
Wayback Machine
.
The Georgia Straight
, January 21, 2009.
- ^
"
Miss Julie
production details"
.
Schaubuhne
.
- ^
"- Проекты - Театр Наций"
.
www.theatreofnations.ru
. Archived from
the original
on 22 September 2012
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
Brown, Irene (13 August 2012).
"
Miss Julie
Review"
.
Edinburgh Guide
. Archived from
the original
on 24 February 2015
. Retrieved
24 February
2015
.
- ^
Strindberg, August (1 September 2012).
Miss Julie ? A new version by David Eldrige
(1st ed.). London:
Methuen Drama
.
ISBN
9781408172759
.
- ^
Advertisement
Mies Julie
? Yael Farber's South African adaptation
- ^
Szalczer, Eszter; Stenport, Anna Westerstahl (2019), "Liv Ullmann's Miss Julie: An Interview with Reflections",
August Strindberg and Visual Culture
, Bloomsbury,
doi
:
10.5040/9781501338038.ch-001
,
ISBN
9781501338007
,
S2CID
192588848
- ^
"She's Wild Again Tonight (2015) - SFDB"
.
- ^
"New Adaptation of MISS JULIE to Debut at Access Theater This Month"
.
- ^
Andrew Clements,
"
Juliana
review ?
Miss Julie
reworking makes for a convincing, effective new opera"
,
The Guardian
, 17 July 2018.
- ^
"Julie - National Theatre"
.
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
. 13 February 2018
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
Ashby, Bob (March 11, 2019).
"Review: 'Queen of Basel' at Studio Theatre"
. D.C. Metro Theater Arts
. Retrieved
7 April
2019
.
- ^
"Miss Julie review ? Strindberg spiked with the politics of empire"
.
the Guardian
. 2021-04-11
. Retrieved
2021-07-03
.
- ^
"Miss Julie"
.
Southwark Playhouse | Theatre and Bar
. 2021-03-15
. Retrieved
2021-07-03
.
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