MTC EDUCATION TEACHERS NOTES 2016 PART B. Miss Julie. by August Strindberg. 16 April 21 May Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. Notes prepared by Meg Upton

Transcription

1 MTC EDUCATION TEACHERS NOTES 2016 PART B Miss Julie by August Strindberg 16 April 21 May Southbank Theatre, The Sumner Notes prepared by Meg Upton EDUCATION 2016

2 Contents Introduction 2 Contexts and the world of the play 3 Adaptation, structure and meaning 6 Theatrical styles 9 Characterisation and acting 11 Stagecraft Direction 13 Set 16 Properties 18 Costume and make-up 19 Lighting and camera 22 Sound 23 Stage management and publicity 24 Themes and ideas 26 Excerpts from the playscript 27 Extended responses to the production 31 Interview with Kip Williams, Director 32 Interview with Alice Babidge, Set and Costume Designer 37 Interview with Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer 41 Further research links 43 1

3 Introduction Because theatre is an ephemeral art form here in one moment, gone in the next and contemporary theatre making has become more complex, Part A of the Miss Julie Teachers Notes offered teachers and students a rich and detailed introduction to the play in order to prepare for seeing the MTC production possibly only once. In this second part of the resource we offer you ways to analyse, evaluate, describe and discuss the play in detail for the purposes of writing the performance analysis task. Part B includes interviews with key members of the creative team, production images and a series of detailed prompts and questions. Importantly, return to Part A of the resource and read it in conjunction with Part B. They are companion parts that make up the whole study of this production. Why are you studying Miss Julie? The extract below from the Theatre Studies Study Design is a reminder of the Key Knowledge required and the Key Skills you need to demonstrate in your analysis of the play. THEATRE STUDIES UNIT 3 AREA OF STUDY 3 Outcome 3 On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse and evaluate the interpretation of a written playscript in production to an audience. To achieve this outcome the student will draw on key knowledge and key skills outlined in Area of Study 3. Key knowledge The contexts of the interpretation of a written playscript Decisions taken that were evident in the production to interpret the written playscript for performance The application of acting and other stagecraft to develop the written playscript for performance Theatrical styles in the written playscript and in the play in performance Terminology and expressions used to describe, analyse and evaluate a theatrical production. Key skills Analyse ways in which the contexts of a written playscript were interpreted through performance to an audience Evaluate the interpretation of the written playscript for performance Analyse and evaluate the application of acting and other stagecraft to develop the written playscript for performance Discuss similarities and differences of theatrical styles between the playscript and the play in performance Use appropriate theatrical terminology and expressions. 2

4 Contexts and the world of the play From reading the playscript, what contexts are evident culturally, historically, socially, politically and philosophically? Select three quotations from the script that provide evidence for your answers What is the immediate context, as suggested in the playscript? Where are the characters when we first meet them? The contexts of the performance world: When you first saw the onstage world, what were your thoughts? Did it surprise you? Was it what you expected? Did the performance echo/capture the contexts evident in the playscript? Discuss whether the adaptation impacted on context. How? Why? Discuss the differences and similarities between the contexts suggested by the playscript and those in the performed work. Mark Leonard Winter, Robin McLeavy and Zahra Newman in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 3

5 I think we are still exploring aspects of time. There are sequences that feel quite dreamlike we cover an evening in these characters lives but it isn t in real time the actors have to travel waves of being awake, asleep, drunk, eating and conversing. What time or era does the performance occur in? How do you know? How does time work in the script? Is it real time? Is it compressed? How does time work in the performance? Is it compressed, is it real? Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer How does time contribute to creating context? How does it contribute to meaning? Certainly within the set there is a very clear dynamic between the interior of the kitchen, which is fully realised to naturalistic detail, and what lies beyond, which is a black theatre void, and where the mechanism of the theatre is exposed as an abstract space. Kip Williams, Director Discuss the exterior world beyond the room the characters occupy as suggested by both the script and the characters in the performance. What is suggested? What do you imagine is outside? What clues does the script give you? What clues does the performed work provide? How does the action on stage reinforce, contradict or ignore your understanding of the exterior world? Discuss the phrase the mechanism of the theatre is exposed as an abstract space as stated by the director above. What is the meta-theatrical comment being made here? One of the big differences in the current interpretation and the original is the rationale behind the character of Miss Julie in our interpretation we are focused on drawing the audience into the perspective of somebody who is so limited by the restrictions that have been placed upon them that they desperately try anything to break free. Analyse the director s thinking. Kip Williams, Director Do you agree with this interpretation of the context in which the characters present this moment in their lives? 4

6 I don t necessarily think that class distinction has disappeared. Kip Williams, Director How is the concept of class present in both the script and the performance? Identify three moments that draw attention to the class structure. How does class contribute to meaning in the play? How does it establish the context? The design requires the lighting to do very particular things, to isolate the box downstage and to facilitate the camera. Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer How does the design construct a very particular world? Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 5

7 Adaptation, structure and meaning This production of Miss Julie is an adaptation. MTC commissioned a literal translation from the Swedish that was then adapted for the purposes of rendering it more contemporary. The language that has been used in the adaptation has a contemporary rhythm to it - has touches of anachronism in terms of the some of the words that are used. So the audience can have an immediate identification with those characters. For instance they swear! Kip Williams, Director What is familiar about the world presented in Miss Julie? What is unfamiliar? Why? The setting is Does the language in the adaptation reflect that period or does it feel more contemporary? Were you surprised that the characters swear? Why? What is the impact of such language? On your understanding of the characters? On your understanding of the world of the play? On you as a member of the audience? During Strindberg s time what regulations may have prevented playwrights from including swearing in their plays? Does swearing contemporise a play? Why/why not? Why do you think the director and creative team wanted to adapt the play? Evaluate the adaptation - contextually, dramatically, in terms of stagecraft? To analyse the structure, write down the plot of Miss Julie in dot-point form. Discuss: At what point do we enter the characters lives? At what point do we exit their lives? What action happens in between? What are the key moments? What do you imagine happens after we exit these characters lives? Consider the story and/or stories that are part of Miss Julie. Whose story is being told in Miss Julie? Is there more than one story? Discuss how the camera work provides multiple perspectives. 6

8 August Strindberg Playwright Turning to the technical side of the composition, I have tried to abolish the division into acts. And I have done so because I have come to fear that our decreasing capacity for illusion might be unfavourably affected by intermissions during which the spectator would have time to reflect and to get away from the suggestive influence of the author-hypnotist. My play will probably last an hour and a half, and as it is possible to listen that length of time, or longer, to a lecture, a sermon, or a debate, I have imagined that a theatrical performance could not become fatiguing in the same time. A one act play in the naturalistic form, a single moment of continuity, life is a continuum, to heighten the complexity of the characters and build the dramatic tension. August Strindberg on Miss Julie, 1888 Discuss this description of the structure of Miss Julie Evaluate the use of a single act to convey the story. What might have been the impact of an interval? Does the single act heighten the complexity of the characters and build the dramatic tension as Strindberg declares? I have chosen, or surrendered myself to, a theme that might well be said to lie outside the partisan strife of the day: for the problem of social ascendancy or decline, of higher or lower, of better or worse, of men or women, is, has been, and will be of lasting interest. In selecting this theme from real life, as it was related to me a number of years ago, when the incident impressed me very deeply, I found it suited to a tragedy, because it can only make us sad to see a fortunately placed individual perish, and this must be the case in still higher degree when we see an entire family die out. August Strindberg, Playwright Discuss these statements by the playwright. Analyse how they may have been present in the production you saw. Provide examples of the problem of social ascendancy or decline. Provide examples of how Miss Julie presents as a tragedy. 7

9 Lighting is always part of the construction of a theatre piece, as in telling the audience where to look, how to look and how to receive something. Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer How does the lighting design contribute to the construction of the theatre piece? The use of the cameras How do the cameras impact on the structure of the story? Evaluate their effectiveness in enhancing or detracting from the structuring How did the cameras contribute to the intended meaning in the script? Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. The director, designer and lighting designer all talk about the psychological world of the play. Discuss what this may mean. What do you think IS the psychological world of Miss Julie? Is it sub-textual? Is it explicit? How do the use of cameras amplify or illuminate the psychological world of the play? As a director, actor or designer, how would you illuminate or foreground the psychological world of a play? Discuss what Miss Julie offers that is hopeful and worthwhile about relationships, about humanity. 8

10 Theatrical Styles Miss Julie is considered one of the great naturalistic plays. What is naturalism? How does it differ from realism? Read the following quotations and answer the questions that follow: Realism is perhaps an intention and Naturalism is immersion In thinking about the difference between Realism and Naturalism, Realism concerns looking at society and its various strata, but Naturalism pursues contradiction inside human behaviour. Maybe that is the defining difference. Chris Mead, MTC Literary Director What is interesting about Miss Julie is how the problems of naturalism, realism and an interior world have been negotiated through the intimacy of the camera in a space that is effectively a glass box dropped onto a large empty stage. Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer So the question around Realism and Naturalism is how do you create the compression and the distillation required to make great drama but still make it about everyday people? In many ways that has been the history of 20th century drama. Chris Mead, MTC Literary Director 1910 is reflected in the period detail it will be at its clearest in the costumes and particularly within the costume for Miss Julie. Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer Agree on a definition of naturalism. Find some strong examples from the script that suggest naturalism in terms of action, dialogue, stage directions etc. Find some strong examples from the performance that exemplify naturalism consider set design, costume, properties, sound, language, and acting skills. How do the cameras contribute to creating the naturalistic style of the performance? 9

11 Consider the quotations below and answer the questions that follow: When I am working on a piece of theatre that is set in the historical period I am always interested in the conversation we are having with the audience about the present. Kip Williams, Director If Strindberg set Miss Julie in his own contemporary time, which was now, the question is can this production be now? If you set it in period times but not now, possibly enclosing it in a glass box with video links and close ups, it is a different incitement to how we want to live now and how we want women to be. What aspects of Miss Julie appear historical? What is the conversation that is occurring across time? Chris Mead, MTC Literary Director Evaluate the effectiveness of the production in terms of how it speaks to an audience of now. What does the literary director mean by how we want women to be? Who is we and who decides? Miss Julie, a one-act tragedy, is no doubt a brutally frank portrayal of the most intimate thoughts of man and of the age-long antagonism between classes. Brutally frank, because August Strindberg strips both of their glitter, their sham and pretense, that we may see that "at bottom there's not so much difference between people and people. Preface to the first English translation of the play What is a tragedy? What are the theatrical conventions of tragedy? Discuss Miss Julie as a tragedy. Who are the tragic figures? What is their tragedy? What is the intended message for the audience? 10

12 Characterisation and Acting There are some plays where characters function as plot mechanisms and their presence on stage is to further the plot, whereas other plays have texts that are the inner life of a character and I feel that Miss Julie is very much the latter. In that sense it is an acting piece because the experience of the story is about immersing yourself in the minds and stories of these three characters. Discuss the statements contained in this quotation from the director. How accurately does this quotation reflect the performances you saw? Kip Williams, Director For each of the characters in the production respond to the following: How would you describe their status within this world? How would you describe their relationship to each other? How do the other characters speak about each other? Are they portrayed as you imagined when you read the script? Do you find them believable in this world, in a larger world? Could they exist? How did make-up, costume, set and props contribute to or enhance the portrayal of each? How do you feel about each character? Do you have empathy/sympathy? Why? 11

13 You really need to have three extraordinary actors who create three different consciousnesses that are rich and fecund with illumination and revelation. Finding three actors who can do that and push each other to different heights. It s also a cage fight. Evaluate the performances of each of the actors. Kip Williams, Director Discuss the comment by the director that the play is a cage fight. What does he mean? What is the cage, who is fighting and what are the stakes? Expressive Skills Make notes in the table below to summarise how each performer used their acting skills to convey their character using voice, gesture, movement, facial expression, stillness and silence: Expressive Skills Miss Julie Jean Kristin Voice Gesture Movement Facial Expression Stillness & Silence 12

14 Stagecraft - Direction In his introduction to the first English translation, Strindberg advised: Of course, I have no illusions about getting the actors to play for the public and not at it, although such a change would be highly desirable. I dare not even dream of beholding the actor's back throughout an important scene, but I wish with all my heart that crucial scenes might not be played in the centre of the proscenium, like duets meant to bring forth applause. Instead, I should like to have them laid in the place indicated by the situation. Thus I ask for no revolutions, but only for a few minor modifications. To make a real room of the stage, with the fourth wall missing, and a part of the furniture placed back toward the audience, would probably produce a disturbing effect at present. August Strindberg, Playwright Discuss this directorial advice with regard to the MTC production of Miss Julie. How accurately did the performance adhere to this advice? Is it a director s role to adhere to a writer s advice? Camera shows are really tricky. I have directed one before and that was a minute show that was all filmed live and that was like making a play and a feature film at the same time, but a film that is made live. Kip Williams, Director Discuss, analyse and evaluate the directorial choices with regard to the live action and the directorial decisions with regard to the cameras. As an example you may like to consider the juxtaposition of offstage scenes and onstage scenes, e.g. Kristin sleeping. Another key example may be the final scene where the camera focuses closely on Jean as Miss Julie is deciding her fate. Did the direction of the performance enable you to respond to and feel affected by those decisions? 13

15 The audience always have a choice where to look as opposed to film which controls the audience s gaze. My design can only suggest where they look. It is a very active environment for an audience to be involved in and they will be making decisions about where their attention will be invested at any given moment and where they will find the most compelling experience. Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer Discuss the bolded comments and phrases in the commentary made by the lighting designer. Does the audience always have a choice where to look or does the director determine that? What does he mean by an active environment? Did you feel you missed anything? Did others in your class see other things that you didn t? Discuss the direction of the cooking scene with Kristin in the opening to the play. How does it set the scene? How does it impact our senses? How does it impact the actor/audience relationship? The theatrical styles? Is it referenced in the script? Discuss how this scene was directed. Was it naturalistic? Actor/Audience Relationship Does the script suggest there is a fourth wall? Look for specific examples. Did the performance suggest a fourth wall give examples and was the fourth wall broken? Discuss the use of the cameras in disturbing or impacting the actor/audience relationship in this production. Analyse the effectiveness or otherwise of the actor/audience relationships that were established, maintained or shifted. Evaluate the actor/audience relationships with regard to the naturalistic intentions of the production. 14

16 The Glass Box The interior set is contained within a glass box set on rostra. There is a downstage area that is used at the end and an upstage void that suggests other rooms, the larger estate and the world beyond. Discuss the use of space and its relationship to the directorial decisions. Evaluate the use of space and how it contributed to the world of the play, status, dramatic tension and key climactic points within the story. Discuss and evaluate how the camera work commented on space, enlarged or reduced space, and focused the audience gaze within the playing space. Read the following stage directions from Miss Julie and discuss: Jean leads Miss Julie out. Kristin is alone. Faint violin music in the distance, in a schottische beat. Kristin hums to the music. Clears the table after Jean s meal, washes the plate at the sink, dries it and puts it in a cupboard. After that she takes her kitchen-apron off, fetches a small mirror from a drawer in the table, leans it towards the lilac-jar on the table; lights a tallow candle and heats a hairpin, with which she crimps her fringe. She exits through the door and listens. Returns to the table. Finds the handkerchief the Young Miss has left behind, she picks it up and smells it; then smooths it out, as if in her own thoughts, stretches it, smooths it and folds it into quarters. Discuss, analyse and evaluate how this scene was directed in the production. Compare the performed version with this stage direction from the script. Miss Julie ventures out into grounds. In the quiet of dawn she thinks she is alone. She holds the gun in both hands, regarding it. Discuss how this scene is directed in the production. Compare the performed version with this stage direction from the script. Discuss the direction of the final scene of the play. What choices have been made here that differ from previous scenes? How is space used? How is tension created? Compare and contrast the performed scene with the script. 15

17 Stagecraft - Set just looking at the set, I have made the lighting designer s (Paul Jackson s) job tricky by including a light coloured kitchen floor. So the impacts are more practical than anything else but these go hand in hand with being a designer. Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer Discuss your responses to the set design its colours, shades, textures, size, overall aesthetic, function, feeling, form, mood it generated, its contribution to the world of the play. Compare the set design in the performance to any elements that are suggested by the script. What similarities and differences do you find? For instance the presence of the sink, the stove, the table? Why do you think the design team chose to place the set in a glass box? I think internal and external space in the physical design of the set means inside the glass box, and outside the glass box. The larger conversation around that is public versus private space and then conscious self and sub-conscious self. As we are investigating it on the floor it is becoming clearer and clearer what those spaces mean. The other question arising from our investigation revolves around presentation of self and external perception (how others see us) versus personal perception (how we see ourselves). Discuss this description of the set design. What aspects of the set do you believe represented private space? What aspects of the set do you believe represented public space? What aspects do you feel were very literal? Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer What does the designer mean by a the conscious self- and the sub-conscious self? Does the set feel like a home? How do the cameras contribute to creating private and public space? How do the cameras contribute to perceptions of self and perceptions of others? Are there aspects to the set design that you feel are symbolic or metaphoric? How do the performers use the space? What challenges does it offer them? What opportunities? 16

18 I think the camera can become another character and perspective in this world. It can focus the audience in a way that you don t necessarily have without it. We craft a picture of what we want the audience to look at and possibly think at a given point. It is a further manipulation of the audience, which is quite appealing. Discuss these comments by the designer. Do you agree that the camera is another character in the performance? Did you feel manipulated? Why? Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer How does the set design contribute to the theatrical styles inherent in the play as written, and as performed? Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. At the core of what you do you need to be pragmatic and that is something I enjoy about my job. It isn t just about making a beautiful object, the beautiful object has to function! Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer Discuss and evaluate the differences between the practical and aesthetic aspects of the set. 17

19 Stagecraft - Properties Some of the properties used in the performance include cooking utensils, wine bottles, cutlery and crockery, boot cleaning materials, a gun, and a birdcage. Discuss: What other properties do you recall? How would you describe the aesthetic of these props? What are their functions? Do the properties sit in harmony with the world of the play? Do they contrast or contradict it? Discuss whether particular characters used certain props. Is this significant? Are there practical reasons for this? Do certain props have greater meaning or symbolism? Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 18

20 Stagecraft Costume and make-up Throughout this resource and on the MTC website there are production photos that will allow you to recall the costumes and make-up worn by the characters, designed by Alice Babidge. As you have with set and properties, discuss the overall aesthetic of the costumes and the make-up colour palette, textures, familiar, unfamiliar, period, contemporary, exaggerated, practical or other. Colour can cause lights and cameras to strobe or change the register of the colour. You can t make set and costume finishes too light because it reflects more light and makes it difficult for a camera to read. Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer Discuss this comment by the designer. Evaluate how the choice of colour and tone in the costumes and evaluate how it enables the cameras to capture images effectively. The period detail, I mean there is clearly an Edwardian sensibility, within the set design itself including the practical pieces. It will be at its clearest in the costumes and particularly within the costume for Miss Julie. As the character with the highest status she also exists as the figure who presents as the most truthful representation of fashion at that time. So her silhouette is completely of the period. Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer Discuss the costume worn by Miss Julie. Discuss her hair and make-up. Did it complement her costume? Why? How did costume, makeup and hair represent her higher status and the fashion at that time? In her interview above, the designer talks about the use of the corset and the purpose of a corset and what it represents How does Miss Julie s costume make a comment about or represent a version of womanhood in 1910? 19

21 Robin McLeavy in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. Robin McLeavy in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 20

22 The characters who revolve around her in that world don t necessarily, because of their financial means and status, have to be specifically within that period in terms of costume. Discuss the costumes and make-up for Jean and Kristin. What was particular about each character s costumes and make-up? How did it contribute to their role within the performance? Alice Babidge, Set & Costume Designer How did their costume and make-up choices contribute to the theatrical styles within the production? A sample of reference images and costume designs by Alice Babidge for Miss Julie. 21

23 Stagecraft Lighting and camera Lighting designer, Paul Jackson, has collaborated with the director and the design team to interpret the script for performance. Lighting and camera work Elements that would normally be done by lighting such as certain types of framing or certain types of focusing will be done through the camera work. Therefore, the function of the lighting and the way the lighting operates is a little different to how it would normally. The design is fundamentally spatial in so far as the isolation of the box in a large space but it is also technically facilitating the screen. There are also a lot of technical requirements so that the light stays out of the camera and doesn t blow out the screen. Discuss each of the bolded phrases and comments above. What does framing mean in relation to lighting and in relation to camera work? What is meant by the comment that the lighting is spatial? Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer Did you perceive the box to be isolated within the greater space of the Sumner stage? How was this achieved? Discuss how the lighting design complemented the camera work and enabled you to see both the live action and the captured angles on the screen. I am considering it in a kind of Bergman-esque style, where lighting has a cumulative psychological effect that isn t necessarily grounded in the subtext at any given moment. In Bergman s Winter Light the light becomes a metaphoric force. Discuss each of the bolded comments above. Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer Ingmar Bergman, Swedish Film Director see links to his work under Paul s interview later in this resource. Consider how the lighting may have a psychological effect or become a metaphoric force. What examples or overall impressions do you have of this? What particular lighting states and changes can you remember as being significant, memorable, striking and why? 22

24 What is interesting about Miss Julie is how the problems of naturalism, realism and an interior world have been negotiated through the intimacy of the camera in a space that is effectively a glass box dropped onto the large empty stage of the Sumner. That tension is interesting and it offers a rare articulating of the ideas of naturalism into a contemporary idiom. A lot of what the camera is doing would normally be done by theatre lighting in a more traditional production of Miss Julie. All the sub-textual framing that the camera is doing is how lighting would normally work in a box set version of the play. The above comments offer opportunities for rich discussion. How does the camera work offer intimacy? Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer Is this production creating a new form of naturalism in the theatre or, as the designer says, a contemporary idiom? How does the camera work create or suggest subtext in this production? Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. There are basic responses to the time of day and the internal setting but mainly I am responding to the design. Did the lighting give a sense of time passing? Standing still? How? Paul Jackson, Lighting Designer 23

25 Stagecraft - Sound Composer and sound designer, Pete Goodwin (THE SWEATS), is drawing on a more classical palette and on naturalistic sound for this production. Unfortunately he wasn t available for an interview. What particular sounds or music do you recall from the performance? For instance, what music was present as you entered the theatre? How was sound used at the very opening of the play? How was music and composition used throughout the performance? What diegetic sounds were present in the performance? What sounds appeared to be coming from offstage? Overall, how did the sound contribute to the mood of the performance and to the world of the play? Stagecraft Stage Management (SM) and Publicity For those students taking on SM roles or Publicity you may like to consider the following: Stage Management What OH&S issues do you think an SM may need to consider with regard to the set design for this production? What do you think would be some key cues you may need to write on the prompt script? How would you pre-set this show? What would the SM need to do at the end of the show in order to prepare for the next performance? What items are brought on stage during the performance? What is the SM s role regarding these? Publicity Explore the MTC website for marketing and media publicity approaches to this production. Comment on the poster design and how you feel it represents the play. What would you tweet in order to advertise the production? Which creative team members do you think the media might like to chat to prior to the production opening? During the season? How would you advertise this show on Facebook? Other social media? If the show wasn t selling well, what type of publicity campaign could you devise? 24

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27 Themes and ideas in Miss Julie Themes in Miss Julie include: gender roles class structures capitalism lust control power loyalty misogyny betrayal Discuss how each of these was present in the script. Discuss and provide examples of how they were made evident in the performance through acting, direction, other stagecraft? What other themes and ideas do you think the play was exploring? Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 26

28 Excerpts from the playscript Annotate the following quotations from the adapted script to discuss the themes and ideas present in the play: 1. JEAN: You should have seen her just now, she practically grabbed that new footman from Elsie, and forced him to dance. We d never behave like that. Can you imagine you going up to a man at the dance and accosting him like that? It s unbelievable. That s what happens when the upper class try to act common - they become common. She d never do this if the Count were here. 2. MISS JULIE: And so what? You think it matters what those people have to say about me? Those people are scared of me. Not the other way around. 3. MISS JULIE: Amongst them? And what about you? Aren t you scum too? Or do you see yourself as, what? Above them, do you? An aristocrat in the making? Jean is silent. MISS JULIE: The man is silent. Such a rare pleasure. So what if they think I m lowering myself. Let me wallow amongst the scum in their minds. I couldn t care less what those people thought of me. What I chose to do with my life is what I chose to do. JEAN: They won t see it as a choice. Don t you see, Miss? People will always say that you fell. 27

29 4. JEAN: No, it s my job. That s what I m employed here to do. I m not paid to kiss your wrist. I couldn t think of anything worse. I may be scum to you, but at least I hold myself with a modicum of self-respect. Which is more than what can be said for you. 5. JEAN: I can t! Ok! I can t! Not whilst I m still in this house. I have too much respect for him - and right now, seeing his boots standing there so f****** straight and noble, I feel like some f****** peasant, some f****** lackey that needs to bow and grovel at his feet (he kicks the boots) And I know, I know I am none of these things - it s just been bashed into me since I was born, but there s some small part of me that believes it - and that part of me, that uncontrollable part of me, is not my fault, so would you please - PLEASE - stop punishing me for it because I have been punished enough. I have character, you know? I know I do. I can really be someone. 6. JEAN: Just, come with me to another country, please. You ll see. In a republic, do you know what people respect: money. I ll be established in no time, I know it. I could be a proprietor in no time, and in a couple of years a proper land owner. I could even rise to be wealthier than the Count. f*** it, why stop there. I could create an empire. A series of hotels spanning the world, crossing continents. An empire. 28

30 7. MISS JULIE: You know, if you think leaving these walls will make one iota of difference to how you think about yourself, then you have a very sad future ahead of you. You think a different roof will change things? A different country? Your mind is your prison, Jean, not this house. And nothing - no action, no person - can liberate you from it. 8. JEAN: Do you hate men... Miss Julie? She is silent. JEAN: It s a simple question, Miss. MISS JULIE: You think because I haven t gotten married, because I have refused to submit to any of those pathetic... (searching) boys my father has set before me, I somehow hate men? I don t hate men. JEAN: Really? MISS JULIE: Really. 9. KRISTIN: Because I have integrity, Jean. Do you know what that is? I have principles that are born of my own thinking - not yours or God s or anyone else's - my own. And when I find myself deviating from those principles... I can't stand to be with myself. What sort of people do we become, when we give our lives in service of something we don t respect? JEAN: Strangely, I feel more alive than ever to know that these people are not better than us. KRISTIN: And therein lies the great sadness within you, my darling. You confuse being respected with being superior. 29

31 10. JEAN: We are not taking that thing with us. You can chose now: the bird or me. MISS JULIE: Fine. Deprive me of the smallest piece of love in this world. But I d prefer you killed her than leave her alone in this place. JEAN: Well bring me the wretched thing, and I ll chop it s head off. She looks to him. Then to the bird. JEAN: Now, Miss. We don t have time for ceremony. MISS JULIE: Jean, you won t hurt it though, will you? No, I can t. Don t. JEAN: Give it to me. Just give it to me. MISS JULIE: (takes the bird out of it s cage and kisses it) Oh, my little Serene, are you going to die from your mistress now? JEAN: Please don t make a scene. It s about your life, your well being now! Come on! (Takes the bird from her, carries it to the chopping block and picks up the kitchen axe.) Miss Julie turns away. 11. Picks up the gun. MISS JULIE: How I would love to. Like this? (She gestures) JEAN: You could, yes. MISS JULIE: My father never could. Didn t have the guts. Didn t take his chance when he had it. JEAN: Do you have guts, Miss? MISS JULIE: Julie. JEAN: Do you, Miss Julie? MISS JULIE: I don t know. What do you think? JEAN: I think you ve got guts. 30

32 12. MISS JULIE: Oh God. I can t do anything. I can t live. I can t regret. I can t escape. I can t stay. I just... Help me Jean. Order me. Order me to do this and I will obey. Do me this last favour. Save me my honour and his name. You want to protect that, don t you? His name? Tell me it s the right thing to do. I don t know what s right and wrong anymore Extended responses to the production Use any of the script excerpts above or within this resource to answer the following questions. Remember, this should be an extended response that draws on the selected text excerpt, considers the overall script and the performance itself. How were two or more areas of stagecraft applied to interpret context(s) from the written playscript? In the analysis, refer to: the script excerpt from the play other parts of the playscript the play in performance How were two or more areas of stagecraft applied to interpret the written playscript in the production? In the analysis, refer to: the script excerpt from the play other parts of the playscript the play in performance 31

33 Kip Williams Director In the final design presentation for Miss Julie you offered those gathered some great provocations with regard to the artistic vision for the production. I want to pick up on some of those in this interview beginning with the comment you made that essentially the play is concerned with choice and consequence. Is that something you are still focusing on? The central drive of both Julie and Jean is to challenge the future that has been ordained for them by virtue of their class and position and for Miss Julie, her gender. Certainly within the set there is a very clear dynamic between the interior of the kitchen which is full realised to naturalistic detail and what lies beyond which is a black theatre void and where the mechanism of the theatre is exposed as an abstract space. For me the design spatially distils that tension between the world they know and are trapped in, and the world that lies beyond it. I am interested that whilst both characters seek to break from the cage of the kitchen and the entrapment of the Count s estate, they don t know what exists beyond that. I think that is the question for the audience as well. What lies beyond our known environment when we seek to escape it and forge a different future from the one that is expected from us? This question can be integral to the choices we make. Another intriguing comment you made in the design brief was that the characters collide in a fusion of ideas, sex and politics - which seems to me a great premise for a play! Is that an idea you think is inherent in the original play? Is it sub-textual and you are exposing it? I think it s within both the text and the subtext of the original Strindberg. A huge part of the transgression is the sexual attraction between Jean and Miss Julie. One of the big differences in the current interpretation and the original is the rationale behind the character of Miss Julie. In the original Strindberg is a rationale about hating men, and a quite misogynist view of her as being an irrational problem that must be solved through Jean. In our interpretation we are focused on drawing the audience into the perspective of somebody who is so limited by the restrictions that have been placed upon them that they are desperately trying anything to break free of them. I see Miss Julie as somebody who is intensely intelligent. I see her as someone who not only is limited by her class and gender, but also limited by how her class and her gender determine the value of her intelligence. Part of the game play that transpires between Jean and Miss Julie, and we have turned the volume up on that in this adaptation, is to explore what it is like when two incredible minds collide with each other, initially in a sexual attraction, but ultimately with an intellectual attraction and contest. I think that is something that is there in the premise of the play but it is not his focus. He is certainly more judgmental of Miss Julie than this production is which seeks to put you inside her perspective. As part of your research and preparation for the production, did you read Strindberg s introduction/preface to the first English translation and if so what are your thoughts? There is something manifesto-like about this play from a writing perspective, as in its form, as well as the ideas he is exploring in the manifesto that is embedded in the work. I am really interested in his 32

34 attention to naturalistic detail and I m really interested in responding to the way he deliberately wanted the audience to look at people s lives, in particular the lives of people they were not used to looking at and so he set it in a kitchen looking at working class people s existence. Clearly we have benefited from the century since Strindberg wrote this play and from how writing has evolved. But the drive within the work to show life as it is one of the key inspirations for the camera work in the play. With the cameras we have the ability to play with extreme close up to give the audience access into the micro of the lives of these characters, both in terms of the detail of the banality of their actions but also in terms of psychological detail. Strindberg was fascinated by psychological detail. He was writing a play about unmasking people, looking beyond the performance of class and gender and exposing what is beneath that. Strindberg wanted his audience to scrutinise these characters lives as an almost voyeuristic experience and in this production the camera is a way of hyperbolically accentuating that voyeuristic experience. It provides the audience with intimate details of the characters lives both in their appearance, such as the dirt between somebody s nails, and the micro way they reveal something of themselves behind the class they occupy, the fleeting look or shift in the eye. It is very hard to hide from the camera. Does the notion of class still play out for a 21st century audience? Is Miss Julie s downfall as spectacular? Well it s not a shock for us to see a sexual life and it s not a shock for us to see people of different backgrounds having a sexual relationship. I still think, however, that class is very much present in Australian society. I agree that there is less shock with regard to the sexual relationship, but I don t necessarily think that class distinction has disappeared. What is interesting in staging Miss Julie now is that the play was forged at a time when the intense individualism of the 20th century - and now early 21st century that came from embracing capitalist ideology was at its nascent stages when this play was written in the late 19th century. We see Jean an individual who is just learning that he has the capacity to be upwardly socially mobile through a meritocratic way of thinking about himself. Also, the notion that Julie possesses a nascent feminism is a way of claiming her autonomy. These are early ideas of renegotiating yourself, particularly through Jean who espouses capitalist ideals as a mechanism through which he can do so. We stand here 120 years later and see the terrifying way that capitalism has created an even greater class divide. To draw on Bernie Sanders statement about the top 1% controlling 90% of the world s wealth, we can see that huge gap between the haves and the have nots. The middle class in the early part of this century is disappearing. One of the things we are interested in examining in this production is capitalist ideals and how dangerous they sound when we hear them through the words of an early capitalist such as Jean. It is almost like a prototype Donald Trump. We are also interested in exploring the way in which individualism has resulted in a perspective of dangerous selfish behaviour that prevents us from seeing beyond our own benefit. The character of Kristin becomes important here as one who is still religious and one who possesses a philosophy (if we can say that religion is a philosophy) that says there is a world that is beyond me, and there is something bigger than me and larger than what I want. In that sense, the focus of this adaptation is very much about the desire of two people, Julie and Jean, to escape and questioning their motivations to do so. It isn t black and white though. On the one hand the audience should want Miss Julie to break free from the bonds of the household and class and gender restrictions, but on the other hand we re asking the audience to consider what is problematic about the way the two characters think about themselves. Are there warning signs in their 33

35 behaviour and thinking in terms of the ideology of capitalism and individualism that comments on us in the 21st century? Much of what we have discussed so far provides a rationale for the adaptation of the script. Does the adaptation shift the play in terms of time or period? Will the audience get a sense of a particular time or period? Within the given circumstances of the rehearsal room we are locating it in the early 20th Century in Sweden. But once the premise of the past is set up for the audience it becomes a given, we understand with the class distinction that it is a particular point in the history. Once that set of given circumstances has served the function of the premise of the story then the audience accepts it is something that is really happening. So the costumes will be period and the kitchen will be period. When I am working on a piece of theatre that is set in an historic period I am always interested in the conversation we are having with the audience about the present, not just thematically but in terms of their experience of the play and how it connects to them. The cameras that will surround the work have a very contemporary technology and give an immediate sense that Miss Julie is a story from the past but is told through a contemporary lens. The language that has been used in the adaptation has a contemporary rhythm to it, has touches of anachronism in terms of some of the words that are used. So the audience can have an immediate identification with those characters. For instance they swear! Although, we have reduced some of the swearing that is in the current draft. That swearing breaks the museum-like and potentially unhelpful holiness of thinking about something from the past. We are very interested in these characters being immediate, gritty and real and having them speak in a rhythm and in a lexicon that is immediate to our audience. Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 34

36 At the time of writing the play there would have been strict regulations around what could and couldn t be said on stage. In fact Strindberg himself was convicted of blasphemy in In real life those characters would probably have sworn. So is the inclusion of swearing a way of allowing the play to exist in the now? The second word of the play is the F word and there is a consciousness in the shock of hearing that swearing from the top of the show. The audience is plunged head first into that world. This is the language in the world of these characters. The adaptation isn t a 1990s/ 2000s in-your-face Royal Court Theatre piece where it is actually making the point of just wanting to swear. The language in this adaptation is about allowing the play to be real and immediate. We feel that the use of such language gives the play a truthfulness. Would you talk about how you are approaching the direction of Miss Julie? What happens in that first week? How did you begin to put it on the floor? I ve been directing plays over the past four years which have had large casts so it is quite different having only three actors. One of the key things about any work I make is to spend time with the actors and the text. The cast are usually the last people to join the creative team and find collective ownership of the work. A lot of the way we need to achieve that is by talking about it, and in a piece that is a feminist investigation of Strindberg s work it is very important that the actors, in particular the female actors, have clear ownership and a personal expression within the way we are telling the story. A lot of the first week was going through the script, and because I had done an adaptation we had flexibility with regard to the actors being able to offer different ideas for where we might change certain words or phrases. There was also the task, slightly more banal, of editing and essentialising the script because we felt it read too long on the first read. In terms of the construction of the work, the first week was about establishing the rules of the universe that we are going to create, establishing our collective sense of what that place will be and what ideas we will be excavating in the process of five weeks of rehearsal. It is always a really exciting moment. I like to work in a way where I put elements in the room where something can happen as opposed to a theatrical IKEA where you bring all the parts in and put assemble them with an Allen key. The actors respond to the elements and we start to get a sense of what they might become. How are the various theatrical and staging elements such as set, multi-media, lighting and props impacting on your direction? When I commented earlier that the cast are the last part of the equation, they are always part of the conversation, but when they join the company they complete the equation. In a production such as this the large artistic freedom you can have is whose perspective you tell the story from. Do you tell it from one character s perspective or multiple characters perspectives? There is so much flexibility within the work to determine what the perspective of a certain character might be. Because we are using cameras in this production, from a crafting point of view and in terms of camera shots, we can open up a range of perspectives at any point in time. It isn t until I have the cast in the room and we ascertain what the story will be that I can begin to know a certain moment might look like. So it is a blank canvas at present. 35

37 Are there practical issues to solve? Yes! Camera shows are really tricky. I have directed one before and that was a minute show that was all filmed live and that was like making a play and a feature film at the same time but a film that is made live. So the technical challenges are trebled if not quadrupled by having the cameras at play. In that sense there is a huge amount of technical questions to do with the framing of a shot all the way to through how you will run the cable from one place to another. Technically demanding but that is part of the thrill of working in this way. You mentioned at the design briefing that Miss Julie is an actor s piece. Could you elaborate on that? There are some plays where characters function as plot mechanisms and their presence on stage is to further the plot, whereas other plays have texts that are the inner life of a character and I feel that Miss Julie is very much the latter. In that sense it is an acting piece because the experience of the story is about immersing yourself in the minds and stories of these three characters. You really need to have three extraordinary actors who create three different consciousness s that are rich and fecund with illumination and revelation. Finding three actors who can do that and push each other to different heights. It s also like a cage fight. What are the symbols present in Miss Julie? Or the metaphors? With storytelling in general a metaphor is often reductive because it is about one thing whereas a symbol is expansive and allows for personal interpretation. In terms of the story the most interesting thing to think about is the separation between the real space and the abstract space. Theatre is a spatial medium first and foremost, which is the key difference between it and film, visual art and novels. It is storytelling in space. So the experience of any interpretative element of a piece of theatre will most potently be spatial. Zahra Newman, Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. 36

38 Alice Babidge Set & Costume Designer Welcome, Alice! So you are the set, costume, and props designer for the production and I understand you are also working closely with the director, Kip Williams, on the video/camera design. What type of world are you aiming to create with the design elements? We are creating a world birthed from naturalism to allow a story that could be made more contemporary, however in order to expose the nuances of the storytelling, we are interested in presenting Miss Julie in as naturalistic a style as is possible. However, creating a discord or juxtaposition within that allows Kip and I to make the type of theatre we are interested in making. Do you and Kip Williams as a team have a particular aesthetic when you make theatre? Or a particular style? No I don t think so. As both an independent designer and as a designer within that collaborative relationship, I respond as honestly to the work as I can. As a designer I work instinctually and trust in that. If the work feels truthful, and I am telling the right story and feel I will be giving the right story to the audience then that is my goal. In this production we are in 1910 but that doesn t mean that a very contemporary production that has a very minimal set can t have the same resonance with me nor have the same eye across it. You said we are in How is that reflected in the design? In the period detail. If you asked an audience exactly what year it was they would need to be fairly knowledgeable. By the period detail I mean there is clearly an Edwardian sensibility, within the set design itself including the practical pieces. It will be at its clearest in the costumes and particularly within the costume for Miss Julie. As the character with the highest status she also exists as the figure who presents as the most truthful representation of fashion at that time. So her silhouette is completely of the period. The ther characters who revolve around her in that world don t necessarily, because of their financial means and status, have to be specifically within that period in terms of costume. Even in saying that I do take some liberties with the period. I use it as a tool for communication and for story telling but as we see the world through a contemporary eye I think it is good to mould that a little bit. I am never a slave to a period, as long as nothing obviously jars. When you mention silhouette are you talking about women s stays or corsetry? The shape of the most popular corset from the time is now illegal because of the impact it had on women s spines. So we are obviously not using that! We are, however, using a shape from the Edwardian period that was very popular. I really like that latter Edwardian period because towards the end of those first two decades of the 20th Century, women s shapes began to change, moving towards a more natural silhouette. So, it is nice to have that shape on stage. 37

39 Why is it nice to have it on stage? What is it saying? I think it helps represent women and their status in society at their time, particularly upper class women. To an extent that shape places women s bodies on a pedestal to be observed and fantasised over. I feel that still occurs now over 100 years later and probably even more than 50 years ago. Women are infantilized and sexualised in the media, in public life and online. That shape on stage is a helpful tool that we are theatre makers can use to make a point and to make it clear without having to say it explicitly. Whatever you can do visually is more effective. A certain silhouette means something which leads our thinking to considering a certain time, a certain woman and you are halfway there. Kip spoke about space in the final design presentation, alluding to internal and external, psychological and abstract. Would you talk about the design in terms of space? I think internal and external space in the physical design of the set means inside the glass box, and outside the glass box. The larger conversation around that is public versus private space and then conscious self and sub-conscious self. As we are investigating it on the floor it is becoming clearer and clearer what those spaces mean. The other question arising from our investigation revolves around presentation of self and external perception (how others see us) versus personal perception (how we see ourselves). Having this world around us to explore and to consider without giving a face to it is quite useful. Forensic is a term that has arisen in discussions. I think that is a useful term because it is grounded in time and reality in a way that doesn t feel gilded (thinly covered) or romantic. I think there is something forensic about the work but I would also use the terms exploratory and observant. I think the camera can become another character and perspective in this world. It can focus the audience in a way that you don t necessarily have without it. We craft a picture of what we want the audience to look at and possibly think at a given point. It is a further manipulation of the audience which is quite appealing. How are the camera elements influencing and impacting the design? I have done a lot of work with camera over the years. There are obviously practical things I need to consider such as access, space, screen position and finishes, especially in terms of costume. Colour can cause lights and cameras to strobe or change the register of the colour. You can t make set and costume finishes too light because it reflects more light and makes it difficult for a camera to read. Even just looking at the set, I have made the lighting designer s (Paul Jackson s) job tricky by including a light coloured kitchen floor. So the impacts are more practical than anything else but these go hand in hand with being a designer. At the core of what you do you need to be pragmatic and that is something I enjoy about my job. It isn t just about making a beautiful object, the beautiful object has to function! While there are sometimes compromises these generally give birth to new ideas. You also need limits in order to be creative. Without compromise and limits there is nothing to push against. 38

40 Robin McLeavy and Mark Leonard Winter in Miss Julie. Photo by Jeff Busby. Does the Sumner offer challenges or opportunities for design? The Sumner is a beautiful stage. It is a contemporary proscenium which has depth and width. This set has been created for the Sumner as the kind of theatre space that works well for what we want to make for Miss Julie. Having said that, I think the design could go in another theatre and would probably work. It may need to be a proscenium but not necessarily. I can imagine it in the studio at the Sydney Opera House for instance but it would be a slightly different thing. Theatre Studies students study a range of theatrical styles and genres. Recently the term post dramatic has become a commonly used term in theatre making. What is your take on that term? Is it relevant to your work or indeed this production? I don t use that term. Naturalism is the only style I reference when talking about my work because I work with humans and tell human stories. So it always feels the only term that is relevant to the type of theatre I create. Beyond that I don t think of the theatre that I make with any kind of overarching style or fitting into any kind of terminology. In 20, 30 or 100 years time sure, my work may be put into a particular style. The diversity of contemporary theatre making both in Australia and internationally means terms are fluid and skewed and can t be pinned down simply. Perhaps post dramatic is more about process. 39

41 The other artists in the creative team have spoken about Naturalism as being applicable to this production as well, as well as the story being about real people. Within that naturalistic world, how does TIME work? Is it consecutive? Consistent? Compressed? I think we are still exploring aspects of time. There are sequences that feel quite dream like. Until that settles, it is difficult to say exactly how time works. We cover an evening in these people s lives but it isn t real time. Because of the beginnings and ends of the story it feels like more than that the back story and the beyond story. Rhythmically we are finding a certain pace within the story which is the joy of rehearsing to make those discoveries. The actors have to travel waves of being awake, asleep, drunk, eating, and conversing. They have the hardest job and Paul Jackson (lighting designer) has to find ways to light that in a black theatre, glass box and with cameras. It is a challenge. Miss Julie was written 120 years ago. What is its resonance for a 21st century audience? What I think is the most interesting part of this story is that it is about human relationships, the way in which we perceive each other and treat each other, and what assumptions we make. These characters make many assumptions about each other probably based on social structures and mores. This story is relevant for its exploration of honesty and truth. There is also the constant presence of the role and position of women and what they can and can t do. The feminist under and indeed overtones are particularly relevant to us, and despite feminism women are still judged on the way they present and conduct themselves. Are the stakes as high for Miss Julie now as they were in 1910? In this production I think the focus is less on the world outside in that it doesn t have a face. It is there but we are more focused on the internal world and the stakes for the characters within that. Within the set how much is practical and how much is dressing? It is all practical; the sink, the cupboards, the stove. The characters cook food, they eat food, they open beer and they drink beer. When Kristin has to cook a steak for Jean, she cooks it and he has to eat it within the world of the play. It is helpful for the actors as it is something real and allows them to go through actions a, b and c in order to come to the next moment. That is real life. How does this very practical set impact direction? It is going to be a highly choreographed production and by the time we hit the theatre, a finely tuned beast. 40

42 Paul Jackson Lighting Designer Paul some of the things I have been discussing with Kip Williams, director, and Chris Mead, Literary Manager, are concerned with the world of the play. Would you talk about what type of world you are aiming to create? And what are you hoping to achieve with the lighting design? First of all the designs requires the lighting to do very particular things, to isolate the box down stage and to facilitate the camera. The camera is a massive formal constraint and element to deal with. Any design decision I make at any given moment is driven by the way the live eye perceives it and how the camera processes it. Elements that would normally be done by lighting such as certain types of framing or certain types of focusing will be done through the camera work. Therefore, the function of the lighting and the way the lighting operates is a little different to how it would normally. The design is fundamentally spatial in so far as the isolation of the box in a large space but it is also technically facilitating the screen. There is also a lot of technical requirements that the light stays out of the camera and doesn t blow out the screen. The screen sits above the box and just behind its back wall. So there are very practical elements to attend to but what about aesthetically? I am considering it in a kind of Bergman-esque style (Ingmar Bergman, Swedish Film Director see links at end of this interview), where lighting has a cumulative psychological effect that isn t necessarily grounded in the subtext at any given moment. In Bergman s Winter Light the light becomes a metaphoric force permeating the piece that isn t necessarily applied to any particular internal moment for the character. Often with a play you will have cueing for subtext but I m not as interested in doing that as in creating an atmosphere, a permeating atmosphere that slowly shifts over the course of the piece. There will be some requirements to signal time of day, the need to darken areas where there is no action, light some areas upstage, and moments of theatricality, but in terms of the world of the play inside that box I am interested in these other things. Paul, are you working collaboratively with sound? Not as yet. Caryl Churchill s Love and Information that Pete Goodwin (sound designer) and I did last year had many punctuated scenes needing the sound and light to drive the transitions. This play doesn t require that. It is more about ambience which is a weak term but the lighting has a different kind of framing. So at this stage we aren t so reliant on each other. Other lighting designers I have spoken with discuss lighting as having a strong dramaturgy within a theatre piece. Would you agree? I think all lighting is dramaturgical. Lighting is always part of the construction of a theatre piece, as in telling the audience where to look, how to look and how to receive something. What dramaturgy is on any given show, however, varies. The fundamental or formal drive of this show is the relationship between live action and camera. Those are the parameters of the piece and dramaturgically the lighting facilitates that and works within each register. For instance lighting has a role to play within the camera 41