Book description
Written in a fortnight and often regarded as Strindberg's masterpiece,
Miss Julie is shocking in subject-matter, revolutionary in technique,
and was fiercely attacked on publication for immorality. Sweden, 1894.
Midsummer night's celebrations are in full swing but the Count's
daughter, the beautiful and imperious Miss Julie, feels trapped and
alone. Downstairs in the servants' kitchen, handsome and rebellious
footman Jean is feeling restless. When they meet a passion is ignited
that soon spirals out of control. Strindberg's masterpiece caused a
scandal when first produced - and has been hugely popular ever since -
for its viscerally honest portrait of the class system and human
sexuality. The conflict between sexual passion and social position is
presented in Miss Julie with startling modernity. The play's premiere at
Strindberg's experimental theatre in Denmark in 1889 was banned by the
censor and its first public production three years later in Berlin
aroused such protests that it was withdrawn after one performance. Miss
Julie has since become one of Strindberg's most popular and frequently
performed plays. This new version by highly-acclaimed playwright and
translator David Eldridge is contemporary but faithful, and combines
accessibility with fluency. August Strindberg (1849-1912) was born in
Stockholm and began writing plays in 1869. His first major play was
Master Olof, written in 1872 but not performed for nine years. His other
plays include The Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888), Creditors (1888), To
Damascus, Parts I and II (1898), A Dream Play (1901) and The Ghost
Sonata (1907). David Eldridge was born in Romford, Greater London. His
full-length plays include Under the Blue Sky (Royal Court Theatre, 2000,
awarded Best New Play in the West End in 2001); Festen (Almeida and
Lyric Theatre, 2004); M. A.D. (Bush Theatre, 2004); Incomplete and
Random Acts of Kindness (Royal Court Theatre, 2005); a new version of
Ibsen's The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse, 2005); Market Boy (National
Theatre, 2006); a new version of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman (Donmar
Warehouse, 2007); a new version of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea (Royal
Exchange Theatre, 2010); The Knot of the Heart (Almeida, 2011) and In
Basildon (Royal Court, 2012).
