The central theme of Miss Julie is the constant struggle for power between men and women. This play is interesting because the woman, Miss Julie, is in the power position according to society. This is true because she is the daughter of the Count, as well as being the last in the long line of his noble family. As events unfold during the play, the power control changes hands several times.

The play begins by focusing on Jean and Christine who are servants to Miss Julie, and the Count: Jean is a footman and Christine is a kitchen maid. When the play opens, Christine is busy in the kitchen making dinner for Jean. At this time Jean is out drinking and dancing at the Mid Summer’s Eve Ball. Miss Julie, who Jean has admired since childhood, makes an appearance at the ball and grabs Jean’s arm for dancing. Miss Julie is obviously intoxicated and is acting inappropriately for the position she holds. The servants who are in attendance at the dance do not accept her as one of them, but she tries to laugh and carry on with them anyway. Jean did not have a choice but to dance with Miss Julie, since she ordered him to do so.

Jean soon returns to the servants’ quarters where Christine is now making a special dinner for Miss Julie’s dog, as well as for Jean. When Christine serves him, he just complains that the food is cold. This is the first sign of power struggle in the play. The woman, Christine, is hard at work in the kitchen while the man, Jean, is out playing, dancing and drinking. This situation symbolizes the classic idea of a male dominated world.

The classic role of power, male over female, is reversed for the first time when Miss Julie makes her first appearance in the play. She walks into the servants’ quarters looking for her ‘dancing partner.’ Immediately Jean changes his attitude back to being the servant that he is. He addresses Miss Julie in the most gentlemanlike manner he knows. He is never disrespectful to Miss Julie, or towards Christine in the presence of Miss Julie. This is a complete turn-a-round from the way he was treating Christine just a few moments earlier. He obeys every command Miss Julie gives him, including the last command which is for Jean to return to the ball and be Miss Julie’s dance partner for the rest of the night.

Hours go by before Jean and Miss Julie return from the dance. They find themselves alone in the kitchen of the servants’ quarters. The intoxication of Miss Julie is still prevalent. It is public knowledge that Miss Julie is despondent after breaking off her marriage engagement. The alcohol soon brings out the signs of depression that Miss Julie has towards her broken engagement. Jean notices this weakness and starts to exploit them. He convinces her that the servants at the dance did not accept her as one of their own; he tells her that they were even making fun of her behind her back. This is where the transfer of power starts to happen. The power is transferring from Miss Julie to Jean. The more opportunity that Jean has to talk, or to express his views, the more convincing he becomes. He speaks to her in French and recites current affairs from the newspaper to strike up conversations. Miss Julie questions where he obtained this knowledge and Jean explains that he is an educated man and that he likes to read and keep up with current events. Eventually Miss Julie starts to listen to what he has to say. Miss Julie gets caught up in what Jean is saying and appears to be impressed with his vast knowledge.

Miss Julie finds this, along with Jean’s handsome physical features, very attractive. She then starts to make what appears to be advances towards Jean. Jean relinquishes his hold on the control of the situation, and once again Miss Julie is in control. Jean shies away from all advances and tries to convince Miss Julie that this is not a good idea.

Miss Julie is very persistent and it becomes harder for Jean to fight her off. At this point in the play Jean tries to take back control of the situation by making an advance towards Miss Julie and kissing her. She responds with a slap to his face, which immediately reminds the audience who is in ultimate control. Jean then apologizes profusely for being too forward.

Off in the distance Jean hears the other servants returning from the dance. He tells Miss Julie that she must leave before they are discovered, alone, in the middle of the night. She refuses and tells him that nothing is wrong with her being there. As the servants approach, Jean hears them singing a song in which the chorus makes fun of Miss Julie taking advantage of a servant and he points this out to Miss Julie. When Miss Julie hears this she agrees with Jean and decides that she needs to hide. Jean convinces her to hide in his bedroom, by assuring her that he will be nothing less than a gentleman. With this Miss Julie agrees and enters the bedroom. While in the bedroom, Jean seduces Miss Julie.

After the servants turn in for the evening, Jean and Miss Julie return to the kitchen where they are alone. This is where Jean really exploits Miss Julie. He convinces her that she is no better than he is because of the sexual encounter. From this point on, Jean has complete control over the whole situation. When Miss Julie tries to take power away from Jean he reminds her that she is no longer above him, she has lost her credibility by sleeping with a servant. Miss Julie soon realizes this and does not challenge Jean any more. This is the point in the play where the power struggle ends.

Miss Julie, feeling helpless due to the situation she has placed herself in, asks Jean for advice on how to get out of this situation. Jean offers the idea of fleeing to another country and starting over. The only thing that Miss Julie has on her mind is suicide, but she is not strong enough to follow through. Eventually she asks Jean to order her to kill herself, as a final relinquishment of power to Jean. When Jean does this Miss Julie gets her final wish, the self-destruction that she had deep down been hinting at since the marital engagement had been called off. Miss Julie was experiencing severe depression and humiliation because of this and the sexual affair with Jean pushed her over the edge. She knew suicide was her only way out.

The performers of the Generic Theatre have diverse backgrounds. Miss Julie, played by Stephanie Walsh, began her career at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University and is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. She also operates a private Alexander studio in Norfolk. Jean, played by Jim DiMunno, has performed at the Generic Theatre before, most recently in Death of a Salesman. Christine, played by Celia Burnett, graduated from Old Dominion University’s theatre program. She was awarded the Faculty Award of Excellence and Outstanding Senior in Theater Award. She spends much of her time working with Summer Shakes, which is the Hampton Roads Shakespeare Festival.

Stephanie Walsh was superb for the part of Miss Julie because she fits the stereotype of nobility and power. She wore a red dress and was rather tall and statuesque. The color red symbolizes power and her height gives off a level of intimidation. Her statuesque figure and her beauty added to the intimidation level. She also had a powerful voice. She used it to be stern when she needed to be. I feel that she used her physical attributes as well as her acting talents to successfully obtain the part of Miss Julie.

Christine, as well as the other servants, Meredith Bowles, Esther Robert, Andrea Angel Silva, Arlene Skipper, and Susan Stahley fit the stereotypical role of a servant. They were all dressed in neutrally colored dresses, they were short in height and had heavy-set builds. Their costumes were frayed and dirty and their overall appearance was sloppy. The servants’ appearance added credibility to their positions in society.

The cast as a whole made the performance appear realistic. The actors did not seem to be reciting lines of a script, instead they had flowing conversations with each other. It was as if they were living this dialogue out in their normal everyday life. An example of the improvisation that I am referring to occurs during the scene where the servants come to the kitchen after the ball and are dancing and singing, one of the maids slips and falls down on some of the beer that was spilt on the floor. The other maids just laugh and carry on like it was supposed to happen, trying to cover up the accident that just occurred. None of the actors missed a line because of this mistake.

Opposite of the performers was the audience. The audience of the Generic Theatre was a diverse group. In attendance were family members of the cast, people supporting the Generic Theatre, and people exploring new cultural events. I overheard two people discussing seeing each other at the opera a week before, one of them also mentioned that they had seen this performance of Miss Julie already.

The environment of the theater helped the audience focus on the play and not get caught up in the commercialization aspect of going to the theater. Walking into the Generic, as the regulars and the actors referred to it, there was a table set up for ticket sales. The cash drawer sat on top of the table with easy access for anyone to help themselves to its contents. The gentleman collecting tickets was clumsily trying to keep up with the process of issuing the tickets and collecting the money.

Only a few feet away from the ticket sales table was the concession stand. There were only a few items available and all items were priced at one dollar. One lady stood behind the table while the patron chose a snack and put their money into a basket on the table. Then, the patron was responsible for getting his own change.

The theater occupied a room in a vocational school, which probably produces low overhead. Other rooms in the building were classrooms for welding, auto mechanics and machine shops just to name a few. The seating platform for the theater was built out of raw materials resembling the Erector Set I played with as a kid.

Nothing is dramatic about the setting of the theater; in fact, it operates solely on ticket sales, contributions and grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Hampton Arts commission, the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission, and the Norfolk Commission for the Arts and Humanities. This theater sets itself up for the performance alone, which is the only attraction. There is nothing else happening; there is no social scene to be a part of, only the content of the play to enjoy.

The performance of Miss Julie relates to this course through the Naturalistic theme of its composition. Naturalism is anti-Romantic in the rejection of the self-defining hero who transcends her (in this case) background. Naturalism places stress on the importance of heredity and environment or social class towards the defining of the characters. This idea was addressed many times over in the play Miss Julie; one example would be the servants making fun of Miss Julie of because of her actions at the ball. Strindberg never lets the audience forget where the power is supposed to be, but he also makes this play transform power from the "Icon of the Society (Miss Julie)" to the "Humble Servant (Jean)." This is an opposite thought from the Romantic writers in the late 19^th century when Miss Julie was written.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation of Miss Julie and we plan on attending more small plays closer to home in Richmond. He have gone to a few performances at Chrysler Hall in the past, but we prefer the coziness and setting of the Generic Theatre better.

I personally like being able to apply the lessons I have learned in the two English classes that I am currently taking, towards literary works. I have a better understanding of the plot, symbolism and characterization among other things. I look forward to attending more performances in the future.

Dictionary.com (2001, March 20) Naturalism [File posted on the World Wide Web].

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