After Miss Julie, Teachers' Club

'Vote Equality' in red letters on a white background blasts out from the back of the set. It could mean something else, but 'Labour' is underneath it, and the modern pings of music gives way, a little uneasily, to a big band sound coming from the distance. The second world war is over, and Churchill is ousted in favour of Labour. In Patrick Marber's take on Strindberg's 'Miss Julie', position, place, power and class will all resonate, overlooked by this one poster, while the valet, John, cleans his Lordship's shoes, Christine, working all day, washes glasses and cups in front of it, and into this comes Julie from upstairs wanting to dance with John, but he is all to aware of what talk that will bring, but once asked, or ordered, he can't say no, or does he really want to say no?

White and red play a large part in this production, from the sterile white kitchen, with the red top table in the centre, to Miss Julie's red dress. She arrives in the kitchen, made of tubes and cylinders creating a box style space and dimensions, and all focus from Christine and John is on her needs and wants. Karoline Rose O'Sullivan gives Julie a high, clipped voice, clear and precise, aware of her position, but moving from that to a less controlled, uncertain and more unpredictable person as events unfold. That sense of being caught between wants and proper society becomes clear and obvious. 

Christine is more grounded than her valet fiancee, John, and even more so than Miss Julie. She works hard, falls asleep at her desk, and Andrea Cleary gives this character a solidity and practicality, with her own edge when needed. John, who has been at war, where he picked up some French, is able to respond when Miss Julie throws some out, taking her a little off guard. He has even been to the theatre when his Lordship went, only his seats were in the Gods and not the stalls. Luke Middlebrook's John is a more direct character, filling the gap between the two women, and like Miss Julie caught between the beckoning new state of affairs, and the old, his own rage, or hope, emerging in different ways. It is well acted by all. 

There are moments when business on stage and the music from the distance counter each other, the upstairs partying while the downstairs work, the symbolism countering the actual victory. There is a bit of that in the production itself. Under the direction of Sarah Munro, details are looked at, from running water to a clean white paper announcing the Labour victory, which makes using a colour supplement on which John polishes the shoes seem a bit out of place. It is a small thing, in an otherwise good production that keeps a sense of foreboding well.

This is a new company with their first production, and it works well, even in the low ceiling space, leaving the feeling that in a broader space how would it play? The two sides, upper and lower class, and power, comes through well, both in design and performance, and it bodes well for this young company and where they will go next.