ACAUTIONARYTALE OFLOVEANDHATE
What happens after an upstairs downstairs dalliance in the kitchen?
After Miss Julie
ProjectArtsCentre,Dublin
Until March 19HHHHH
Who stands to lose most when the uppercrust daughter of the Big House decides to dabble erotically with the servant in the kitchen? She can lose her authority and dignity, he can lose his job. And if things go wrong, who will believe him? But it’s Fermanagh in 1945, the war is over and Labour has won the general election in the UK. A time perhaps when the class divide is ready for a shake-up?
Patrick Marber’s re-write of Strindberg’s 19th-century tragedy is not just a battle of the sexes but a test of the new egalitarianism. The cross-culture misbehaviour is no longer as shocking as when Strindberg wrote for a more polarised society, but the play still has dramatic firepower that shows the old order is not dead yet.
When the celebrating Julie wanders into the authentically recreated kitchen, she carries her sense of superiority with her. She believes she holds all the sexual cards, but she’s an innocent in this game, especially when dealing with the ex-soldier, now chauffeur, John who has waited a long time for this opportunity. The essence of the play is in the bruising battle of wits that takes place after the sex, when the pretences are cast aside and the prejudices on both sides are brandished like weapons. What gives the play its tension is the doubt as to whether there’s anything vaguely like love between them or whether they are just left with the ability to blackmail each other.
The emotionally damaged Julie going through the turmoil of descent from superiority to humiliation and pathetic optimism, is played with great intensity by Lisa Dwyer Hogg, while Ciaran McMenamin’s John is a good combination of reserve, passion and social awareness. The third character, John’s would-be fiancée, Christine (Pauline Hutton) wins the pragmatic stakes with a cool display of efficiency about how to handle an emotionally fraught situation. Officially not for under-14s. Touring to Thurles, Limerick, Armagh, Letterkenny and Belfast after March 19.
‘Is there any feeling between Julie and John any more — or are they just left with the ability to blackmail each other? TurmoIl: Christine, played by Pauline Hutton, oberves Julie