Simon Ward reviews Miss Julie at the Courtyard Theatre

Under the direction of Jon Fentiman, this is a stripped-down rendition of August Strindberg’s naturalistic play of 1888. Taking place in the madness of Midsummer’s Eve celebrations, it is set in a world of aristocrats and servants, with strict lines of delineation between them. Determined to blur those lines, and even rub them out all together, is Miss Julie (Maria Naterstad). She is much happier flirting with her father’s valet Jean (Chris Agha) than performing her prescribed duties as the Count’s daughter. Jean, in turn, is flattered by her attentions, even though he is betrothed to Katrin (Lia Goresh), the family’s cook. The play charts the power struggles between all three, and the stories they tell themselves, and each other, to justify their actions.

Julie is stifled by society’s expectations of her – yet she also enjoys the power she has as a member of the aristocracy. Jean, too, is frustrated by the limitations placed on him by his lowly status in society, and he dreams of bigger and better things than a life in service. Katrin is the voice of practical reason, conventional morality and religion. She understands the flights of fancy in which Julie and Jean indulge but she wants nothing to do with them. As the fantasizing descends into darker and darker territory, the audience too begins to recoil. While we empathise with their predicament, the way it plays out perhaps feels alien to our modern sensibility. It is very much rooted in its period, with its attendant social and ethical rigidity.

There is real chemistry between Naterstad and Agha as they dance around their attraction to each other, all the more shamefully in Katrin’s kitchen. And the shifting balance of power as they contemplate a possible future together is expertly portrayed. They make a compelling, if impossible couple. The Midsummer kitchen table setting is simple, but effective. There is power, too, in the action taking place over a heady two days – everything is happening too fast, no-one has time to properly think anything through.

This is a clear-eyed performance of a classic play. If it never quite manages to soar, it serves the text well, and authentically manifests Strindberg’s naturalism. Julie’s fate has resonated with audiences in the almost 140 years since it was written because we can read our own situation into hers. She is an archetype of a woman trapped within the confines of a restrictive world, who dreams of something better and freer than she can ever attain, where she can be who she wants to be.

Miss Julie is running at the Courtyard Theatre, 40 Bowling Green Walk, Pitfield Street, London N1 6EU until Saturday 19th October