Roundabout Theatre Company
Todd Haimes, Artistic Director
Harold Wolpert, Managing Director
Julia C. Levy, Executive Director

Present:

Sienna Miller, Jonny Lee Miller,
Marin Ireland
in
After Miss Julie
www.roundabouttheatre.org

By Patrick Marber
A version of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie

Directed by Mark Brokaw

At the
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
NY, NY
212.719.1300

Set Design: Allen Moyer
Costume Design: Michael Krass
Lighting Design: Mark McCullough
Original Music and Sound Design: David Van Tieghem
Dialect Coach: Deborah Hecht
Wig Design: Paul Huntley
Fight Director: Thomas Schall
Production Stage Manager: James FitzSimmons
Casting: Jim Carnahan, CSA
Production Management: Aurora Productions
General Manager: Rebecca Habel
Press: Boneau/Bryan-Brown
Director of Marketing - Sales Promotions: David B. Steffen
Founding Director: Gene Feist
Assoc. Artistic Director: Scott Ellis

Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
October 23, 2009

All three characters in After Miss Julie, Patrick Marber’s re-creation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, set in the kitchen of a 1945 country estate outside London, are devoid of likability, depth, and credibility. In fact, Miss Julie (Sienna Miller), John (Jonny Lee Miller), and Christine (Marin Ireland) are so shallow and edgy that Broadway time moves slowly, at a crawl, as the audience witnesses characters in erotically charged scenes with no apparent erotic charge, none. They seem to be showcasing themselves, in big screen fashion, and that’s why I’m no fan of Hollywood stars usurping lead roles over lesser know, but theatrically ripe actors. Mr. Marber’s play was unfortunately miscast, with Ms. Miller a movie star, Mr. Miller (not related) a movie and television star, but with theatrical credits, as well, and Ms. Ireland more firmly rooted in live theatre.

Mark Brokaw, Director, goes for visual implication. Miss Julie, daughter of the estate’s owner, is poised, glaring across the estate’s wide kitchen at her father’s valet, John, with his fiancée, Christine, the estate’s cook, glaring back. Swing music plays through the window of Allen Moyer’s fascinating set, as party guests celebrate the election victory of Britain’s Labour Party over Churchill’s Conservatives. Christine is taut, high-collared, and church-going, faithful and devoted to John, as she patiently waits for her wedding day. John grew up on the estate, in the servant class, and watched Miss Julie from behind the bushes. So, tonight, when Miss Julie glides in, demanding that John dance with her upstairs, he eagerly obliges, leaving Christine holding pots and towels. When Miss Julie languidly extends her leg for John to kiss her foot, John grabs it lustily, but there’s little eye contact, no smoke in the air, beyond the requisite cigarettes, even before or after the bedroom.

Lust turns to violence, and weapons replace pots, as Julie and John collide physically, psychically, and emotionally. The final, and endlessly annoying struggle is worthy of a close-up, Hollywood camera, not a live, breathing audience. If only this hysteria had been realistically gripping. When Christine returns to bring John to Church, Ms. Ireland looks frumpy and frigid, never personifying the moment. Yet, there were other moments worth mentioning, like Mr. Miller’s posture shifts, when he answered the estate owner’s calls on the kitchen phone and prepared a silver coffee tray and polished shoes. Ms. Ireland infused affect and poignancy to her moment of suffering, at her fiancé’s willing seduction by the self-serving, sadistic Miss Julie. And, Ms. Miller’s best moment was her first, that slithering walk and self-assured sexuality, in Michael Krass’ flowered, 40’s swing dress.

This play deserves another chance, on a smaller stage, with new direction and casting. Meanwhile, I’d like to see Strindberg’s original oeuvre set in 1874 on a country estate in Sweden. The original Jean, Miss Julie, and Christine sound far more engaging and embroiled.

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net