Headlong and Frantic Assembly reimagine Strindberg’s Miss Julie as tangled web of teenage drinking and debauchery.
August Strindberg’s Scandinavian tragedy Miss Julie has been routinely adapted since its first performance in 1888, including as a ballet, opera and TV series.
For this stage adaptation, writer Laura Lomas has clearly worked hard to make her version of Strindberg’s Victorian classic something that is thoroughly current.
The modern retelling opens as the two lead characters, Julie and Christine, are getting ready for Julie’s eighteenth birthday party.
The Rose’s stage has been transformed into a sleek, modern kitchen. The large sofa is strewn with rejected outfit choices and ASOS parcels, and as the two girls take pictures and knock back the shots, tensions begin to appear.
The central thread of the story, and the relationship between the three main characters is clearly derived from the nineteenth-century original. However, theatregoers should not expect a like-for-like remake, and Lomas’ retelling has taken creative liberties to ensure the audience is kept guessing.
Christine (Sesley Hope, Bridgerton) is academic and sensible, constantly trying to clean up after and make excuses for Julie. Her boyfriend Jon—the son of Julie’s cleaner— is always telling her she is being taken advantage of, and should leave Julie and her mess behind.
Julie (Synnøve Karlsen, Miss Austen) is rich and entitled, with an absent father, and enough money to not need to worry about her future. She is emotional, unpredictable and impulsive, and the ticking time bomb that spins the plot.
As guests arrive and the ensemble cast burst onto the stage, the party is suddenly brought to life. Their movement pieces, expertly directed by Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham, are fluid, precise and completely engaging.
Most strikingly though, The House Party does well in portraying the nuances of teenage female friendship.
Amidst the lies, desire and deceit, the moments of tender intimacy and childish silliness capture the vast spectrum of teen emotion.
As the plot unravels and starts to lose its initial power, Christine and Julie’s dynamic continues to anchor the audiences attention.
Hope and Karlsen’s performances, and impressive stage debuts, are the real triumph of Lomas’ adaptation.
The House Party is showing at the Rose Theatre until the 22 March, before heading to Manchester’s HOME, Bristol’s Old Vic and Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre.
Tickets are available here.
