Description

The heroine of Miss Julie, tired of the stifling rules and expectations that govern her privileged existence, throws caution to the wind one fateful night. Julie goes dancing at her servants’ summer party, shocking many around her with her brash behavior. This brief taste of liberty gives Julie a new appetite for freedoms of all kinds, and she develops a particular physical fascination with her father’s footman, Jean. Julie’s impetuous actions break rule after rule, challenging the very strict norms and hierarchies that hold her society and class together. As she soon finds out, such a rebellion will not go unpunished in her world, and grim consequences await the willful young woman. A sober exploration of class tensions, social hierarchies, and the limitations of personal freedom, Miss Julie has been a classic on the stage and in print for over a century.

About the Author

Born in Sweden to a comfortable family, August Strindberg (1849-1912) was educated at elite private schools before attending college. He worked in a chemist’s shop and dabbled in teaching for brief period while still in school, alternately leaving and then returning to his studies in chemistry and medicine. Perhaps a turning point in his life, Strindberg took an opportunity to work as an extra with the Royal Theater in Stockholm, and from then on resolved to become a playwright. Strindberg plunged into a literary life, turning out plays, founding a literary club, and writing for newspapers in Stockholm. Outspoken and progressive, often critical of authority in any form, Strindberg was a distinctly modern playwright. His best-known works include Miss Julie, The Dance of Death, A Dream Play, and The Ghost Sonata. Strindberg’s plays remain a challenging but undeniably important presence in the history of European drama.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

The action takes place on Midsummer Eve, in the kitchen of the count's country house.
JEAN. To-night Miss Julia is crazy again; absolutely crazy.
CHRISTINE. So you're back again?
JEAN. I took the count to the station, and when I came back by the barn, I went in and had a dance, and there I saw the ...