CONSIDER three writers and three successful outcomes. The one that interests here is ‘After Miss Julie’, Patrick Marber’s interpretation of the Strindberg original, moving it to Victory Day in 1945.
Yet the ‘After Miss Julie’ that will present at Lime Tree Theatre on Wednesday March 23 has been tweaked again, by producer Emma Jordan working with Marber on his script to make local the terms of reference.
Set in a Big House (Jordan invokes Florence Court, near Black Lion), the morbid love triangle between aristocratic Julie, family chauffeur John and his fiancée, the maid Christine, becomes Irish and representative.
“For example, ‘Lord of the High Court and Liberal peers’ does not translate to Ireland, but all the essential elements of Patrick’s text are there”.
As with Strindberg’s spare original that looked to present concepts such as Darwin’s survival of the fittest in naturalistic theatre, the translation is to the demise of the ruling class. Consider also the achievement of the middle classes, working class and women, with education and jobs and votes making sway.
Writer/ director Emma Jordan states the 1945 date as significant, when Churchill was voted out of power – having brought the British victorious through war – and the first Labour government came in.
She describes her Prime Cut production as “smouldering, sexual, sensual rather then explicit – the main event happens off stage,” which is Miss Julie’s seduction of John in the presence of Christine.
Observing the unities of time, place, character, all takes place in a concentrated 24-hours in the kitchen. The traditional domain of servants is transgressed, it’s where the anti-heroine stakes a predatory and fatal interest.
With a nod to the class baggage that she feels all people carry, Jordan also looks to Julie’s mental health issues. “Her truth.. extends her empathy beyond her class prejudice, yet she cannot escape her environment and upbringing”.
Where is John in this?
“I think John is an opportunist, a man of his circumstance. I think they love each other, are drawn to each other but are stymied by their social roles.
“No-one comes unscathed from this event, other than, maybe, Christine”. Christine she describes as the moral anchor of the story.
Expect a beautiful, rustic set, elegant costuming and fine acting from Lisa Dwyer Hogg, Ciaran McMenamin and Pauline Hutton in this tormented challenge. Playing at Lime Tree Theatre, Mary Immaculate College on Wednesday 23, 8pm.
