Since the initial announcement, I have thought about After Miss Julie at least once a day. When the day finally comes that I head over to the American Airlines Theatre to see Patrick Marber’s take on Strindberg’s classic, I will shit myself – guaranteed.
Let’s back up a bit…Miss Julie was written by August Strindberg in 1888 – it’s a play about class and sex – two of my absolute favorite things. It’s a three-person play: Miss Julie and two servants: one male and one female. I really do not want to give too much away, but suffice it to say, were Miss Julie and Hedda Gabler locked in a room to duke it out until death, it would be a toss up who’d walk away unscathed.
Miss Julie is strong-willed, brilliant and manipulative. In short, she is one fierce bitch. This is one powerhouse role for an actress – subsequently, Miss Julie is one of my dream roles.
In 2003, Patrick Marber (of Closer and Notes on a Scandal fame) wrote his take on the classic drama, After Miss Julie - moving the setting of the piece to an English manor on the night of the 1945 landslide victory of the British Labour Party.
I know nothing of the history of Britain’s Labour Party or their 1945 landslide victory, but I do know that following the end of World War II, the rigid British class system started to disintegrate. The shift in Miss Julie’s own power within her household is an ideal metaphor for the systematic collapse.
In short, Patrick Marber’s play sounds ridiculously riveting. To top it off, the show will star SIENNA MILLER. Sienna Miller, whose name has been unfairly run through the mud since she first came on the scene, is an actress of untapped potential. This girl is brilliantly talented – believe me – she’s not yet had the opportunity to show us the full range of her abilities.
Those who doubt me…go rent Alfie. She had a small role in the film as a bi-polar party girl, but my God, the promise she demonstrated was quite exciting. Sienna really bared her soul in that role.
The play has the potential to be completely exhilarating and fascinating. I’m freaking the “F” out, and will be first in line when tickets go on sale. I think you should be second. Side note - the amazingly wonderful Roundabout Theatre Company is also producing the first Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie next season - one of three musicals I'd die without.
Until next time, om, chanti, chanti, chanti, namaste.
OH! Quick update – I smiled at the cute boy in yoga class last night. He did not reciprocate; rather, he turned his head and looked down. I think I have been face rejected! And Lisa, loved your comments last time on stream of consciousness; still not loving Mrs. Dalloway though.
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