Miss Julie - Critical review.
Emma Rutherford
Year 11 drama

Miss Julie is a naturalist play originally written in 1888 by August Stringdberg, This play it shows the difference in social class of this time and the battles that occurred. Naturalistic theatre attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies. Belvoir Theatre Company modernised the play to make it more easily understandable in the modern day, they portrayed instances that can happen in everyday life by using a sense of realism in which they audience can refer to.
The actors used the stage and the space to create meaning, an example of this was when Jean used the light switches located on either side of the stage as his points. This showed the audience of his status. These where the places we saw that he was so uncomfortable being around Julie. Another example is when Julie sat on the couch with her laptop, distancing herself from Jean and Kirsten. The use of the exits was effective as it made the audience feel as though they were a part of the production. The whiteness and cleanliness of the first act represented the purity of Julie, which is directly contrasted in the second act with the hotel room.
Belvoir incorporated modern technology and the use of technology very well which gave the feeling that it was set in the current time. This was display directly through Julie who was connected to the outside world via the internet, thus displaying today’s typical teenager.
Taylor Ferguson is a 20 year old who was cast perfectly for the role of Julie. Having just come out of her teenage stage of life it was easy for her to connect with this character and express the feelings and emotions a character of this age might have.