DISCLAIMER: As a member of the TU Theatre Department, I have only the utmost respect for my peers, the faculty and all of the productions that take place within the department itself.
But I must be honest here. I expected much more of Miss Julie.
While it is a play comprised of compassionate dialogue and deep, emotional characters, it was all a bit much for me. The play functions in one hour-and-45-minute scene without an intermission, over half of which follows the title character's yearns for affection from her lover and servant, Jean. All Miss Julie does throughout the entire play is beg him to love her, and I've never seen a more desperate, pathetic character in all my life. She winds up killing herself at the end of the play, and I wish I could have been the one to drag Jean's razor across her throat instead of her dying by her own hand, just so I wouldn't have to hear her whine anymore.
Easily, the most interesting part of the show was a ten-minute interval where, after Jean, Miss Julie and the other servant, Kristine, have gone to bed, the estate's farmers romp about the room, destroying things, throwing flowers everywhere, making love, shouting, laughing, and stomping around in a drunken display of joy and carefree life.
I don't think it was anyone's fault that the production didn't turn out the way I expected; the acting itself was decent and everything worked well as far as the production as a whole is concerned. I just think the play itself was not all that intriguing.
Here's to Time of Your Life being more enjoyable when it opens in May.
--DQ
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Miss Julie sounds like a drag. What was your favorite theater experience?
ReplyDeleteThat's a tough one! I was in an opera with the BOC, but I don't know if I'd really consider that theatre or not. I think acting-wise, it was the stuff I did in high school because it's always amazingly fun to perform with your really good friends, and you're not competing with each other's egos and career paths as much as you do in college. "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" was the most fun because the actors and the audience were already familiar with the Peanuts characters, so all we had to do was bring them to life. It was a blast.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the best show I've seen, there have been a lot of them that have really blown me away. I think when Arena Stage in DC did "Peter & Wendy," an adaptation of Peter Pan, that was one of my favorites because it incorporated puppetry so skillfully and professionally. It was so much fun to watch it all unfold on stage and see actors playing puppets. It's hard to describe if you haven't seen it!