The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Julie at the National Theatre

Julie at the National Theatre | Theatre review
8 June 2018
Connor Campbell
Avatar
Connor Campbell
8 June 2018

The party’s over. Skipping through a hefty hat-trick of race, class and mental health, Polly Stenham’s theatrical homage to Made in Chelsea – well, Hampstead – takes the eponymous heroine of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (sans title) and thrusts her into the drunken, drugged-up world of London’s young elite. Julie (Vanessa Kirby) is celebrating/enduring her 33rd birthday, tearing the house down as live-in cleaner Kristina (Thalissa Teixeira) picks up the pieces and hunky driver Jean (Eric Kofi Abrefa) waits for instructions from Daddy. 

At just 80 minutes, including dance breaks, the production moves hella fast: Julie and Jean go from flirtation to consummation to post-coital viciousness in the blink of an eye. But the Love Island speed of romantic progression comes across as phoney due to a lack of chemistry between Kirby and Kofi Abrefa. The star of The Crown isn’t bad in the lead role, treading the line between horribly wounded animal and spoilt brat; yet her performance is still a bit of a by-the-numbers portrayal of the “famous actress in a tragedy”. Kofi Abrefa’s Jean, meanwhile, feels stiff, lacking the Brando-esque charisma suggested by his skin-hugging white t-shirt.

The play skates by on tossed-off details designed to stand in for fuller characterisation. The most egregious example of this is the approach to Julie’s mental health. Instead of challenging people’s assumptions about mental illness by having the rich, extremely privileged protagonist’s depression go unexplained, the play roots her problems in the suicide of her mother. Undeniably traumatic as that is, it throws off the careful confluence of class and race that creates the tension between the characters, and determines what each is “allowed” to feel. In other words, what happens to the protagonist’s mother is so tragic that Jean just comes off as callous when he claims he “doesn’t have the luxury” of being sad like her. 

As is something of a trademark for the director, Carrie Cracknell adds an ensemble of dancers to Strindberg’s three-hander: revellers and ravers that act as the buzzing in Julie’s brain, hyenas crawling across her mind. This deft control of movement extends to Kirby specifically; Cracknell always has her above Jean and Kristina, be it by standing on the ludicrously long slab of a table or the kitchen counters, a constant visual reminder of the class dynamic.

Basically, everything good about the production that isn’t Teixeira’s dignified performance comes from Cracknell, especially the haunting zoom-out ending. But slick and chic as Julie is, Stenham’s update can’t escape the shallow end of the rather deep pool it’s swimming in.

★★★★★

Connor Campbell
Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

Julie is at the National Theatre from 31st May until 4th August 2018. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related Itemsfeaturedreview

More in Theatre

The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

National Theatre’s Connections Festival 2022 showcases young theatre talent across the UK

Sophia Moss
Read More

Evelyn at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World at Theatre Royal Stratford East

★★★★★
Natallia Pearmain
Read More

King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

This Is Not Who I Am/Rapture at the Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Connor Campbell

Julie

★★★★★

Dates

31st May - 4th August 2018

Price

£15-£50

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Brian and Charles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “We really wanted to create a cabbage gun”: An interview with David Earl and Chris Hayward stars of Brian and Charles
    Cinema & Tv
  • Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Adele lights up Hyde Park for BST Festival
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Funky, funny and danceable: London pop duo Hannie discuss their unique sound and singular sense of humour
The Sleeping Beauty at London Coliseum | Dance review