Mark Clayton Southers, Playwrights founder and artistic director, uses the framework provided by August Strinberg’s 1888 classic play, Miss Julie”” and creates a tableau the sets the play on a plantation in the Reconstructionist South. The changes add a new dimension to the original play, set on the estate of a Swedish Count, with class and gender conflicts and a distraught women trying to hold on to whatever remains of the antebellum era.
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After reading about this play last week in Foundations, I think this is an interesting take on it. When reading the original script, the focus is on condemning Miss Julie for her independence and her promiscuity. I think when race is added in, as well as gender roles between races, makes it that much more relevant, as well as interesting. I love the positioning it, of not in a modern time, but in a parallel setting of its original copy. Being both in 1888, but across the Atlantic makes it that much more close to home. I think this, rather than contradicts as some adaptations do, builds the play's original pursuit of naturalism. From reading reviews, the play seems grounded, and even more "natural"with the Americanized adaptation. Not only that, but the inclusion of Clarissa and John into the story further, rather than just being side characters to a woman's demise, are now central to the story with their stories also being told. I wish I had had the chance to see this, as it sounds groundbreaking. However, sometimes there's really not enough time to view the art I love which stinks.
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