JOHN COULBOURN, Special to TorSun
19 NOV 2013
R: 5/5
If it's gold you're seeking, make your way to a gold field. Pearls? Find an oyster bed. But you need something more than a theatre to strike theatrical riches. Case in point: the funky, friendly and aptly named Storefront Theatre, in the region of Bloor and Ossington — a charming place where one might expect to find theatrical offerings best defined by their earnestness rather than their excellence. But, thanks to the hard work of the Red One Theatre Collective, Storefront is currently playing host to a production of Patrick Marber's AFTER MISS JULIE that combines both earnestness and excellence to maximum effect. This is a riveting stuff.
AFTER MISS JULIE, as its title implies, is a brainchild of Strindberg's 19th century classic, Miss Julie, updated to the post World War II era, and Anglofied in a hugely successful attempt, all things considered, to render it more relevant to modern-day audiences. It is directed here by David Ferry in a sexy, muscular production that fuses the power of Marber's re-envisioning with the talents of his three member cast in such a way that the production manages to keep its audience on the very edges of their seats for the duration.
Serving as his own (quite talented) set and lighting designer, Ferry takes Storefront's low-ceilinged, dimly-lit space and makes of its shortcomings - virtues, creating a dank "below-stairs" feel to the play's country house setting, standing in for a ruling class as tattered and torn as the Union Jack suspended over the audience.
Miss Julie (played by Claire Armstrong in a turn that is heartbreakingly luminescent) is a child of that class, and, as the lower classes around her celebrate an end to the war and the election of a Labour government, she finds herself perched on the very edge of the crumbling class system, a woman child, watching her world crumble beneath her very feet, unsure whether to jump or simply take the fall. Her father's chauffeur, John, played by with a note-perfect blend of swagger and obsequiousness by Christopher Morris, sees the same fault lines around him and is determined to land in a better place.
On this night, the two come together, drawn by the sexual tension that runs between them like an electrical current, fighting against the last vestiges of Victorian prudery and the British class system to find a way to save themselves from a coming social apocalypse. Meanwhile, Christine, Miss Julie's cook and John's intended bride, is determined to survive in the here and now, drowning the pain of John's betrayal in a simple pragmatism that is all but bulletproof, thanks to a triumphantly understated performance by Amy Keating.
Save for a few extended blackouts that strain an audience's patience, this is a superb production and as they breath new life into this old story, you're likely to realize that all it will take to turn AFTER MISS JULIE into a golden theatrical experience is a post-show drink and some fine conversation.
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