"Freken Julie", a play by Swedish playwright August Strindberg: reviews of the play

In Moscow, there was a loud premiere of August Strindberg's production of "Freken Julie." The Theater of Nations, in which Yevgeny Mironov works as an art director, invited a popular play by the German director Thomas Ostermayer.

The original version of the production was observed only once. After that, the performance was banned for reasons of censorship. Today, "Freken Julie" is a performance that is shown on theatrical stages by many countries of the world, and which enjoys a staggering popularity. In Moscow, the story of Strindberg acquired a completely new sound, and the action of the play was transferred to Russia in the 21st century.

The intriguing beginning

As a prelude to the performance in a screen installed in the depth of the stage, viewers can see such a picture: a woman decapitates, after which she gently disembowels the chicken. Dead chicken feet and sharp confident movements of the knife create the necessary mood - they prepare spectators for a tough conversation.

Yevgeny Mironov invited Thomas Ostermeier to direct the production of the director, because he is widely known for his ability to literally dissect the relationship between people and to delve into the psychology of women. Mironov, expressing his impression of the works of the German director, noted that his performances cause a real shock, that he is tough and harsh in the embodiment of his thought on the stage. However, the play "Freken Julie" turned out different - according to Mironov, the director created almost Chekhov's nuances.

History of the creation of the play

The Swedish playwright August Strindberg put his play back in 1889. However, after the premiere show, it was banned. The reason for what happened is in the plot of the work, which could not be perceived in the era of the romantic 19 th century.

In the center of the plot is the tragic love of people from different social strata. The beautiful aristocrat gives in to her heart's impulse and becomes the mistress of the servant in her father's house - the commoner Jean. Relations between the heroes have nothing sublime, they are carnal - such a picture, of course, was completely unthinkable for its era. The productions that August Strindberg created, resumed only 17 years later.

Russian interpretation

As already mentioned, the Russian viewer could see a new reading of the play. It was transferred to modern Russia the history of "Freken Julie." The Theater of Nations under the direction of the playwright Mikhail Durnenkov took care of creating such a version of the classical production that is closer and more understandable to the heart of the audience. The main roles are played by recognized and very talented actors - Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova. Only in this interpretation of the play Mironov plays the driver, and Khamatova is the daughter of the oligarch. The main character is tragic, causing a lot of conflicting emotions, an image.

Work on "Freken Julia"

More than two years there were negotiations about cooperation with the director. As a result, Ostermeier gave his consent not only because the Russian theater traditions are very strong. He was also interested in the very history of the play, which in the new reading took place in Russia in the 21st century.

The director admitted that he himself did not study Russian reality, that's why the playwright confided in everything and did not correct anything from his proposals. In addition, Ostermeier noticed that in the production of "Freken Julia" talented Russian actors were involved, able to enrich the action with the depth of their feelings.

Start of action

The action of the play "Freken Julia" immediately captures the viewer's attention with an intriguing tense dialogue, and then develops more and more rapidly. The protagonist betrays his bride. Daughter of the oligarch Julia for the first time in her life is in the company of ordinary people. Maid Christina decides to forgive the bridegroom who betrayed her. Heroes are finally entangled in their feelings and relationships. Julia sees only one way out of the circumstances that have swallowed her-suicide. And all these dramatic events occur against the background of pure falling snow.

main character

Frecken Julie became a symbol of the heroine of our time, the character and inner world of which is sometimes defined as "semi-junior-half-male". The viewer can only see one night from the life of the heroine - her last night. In the original version of the play, Julie is the daughter of a count who, left alone in Ivanov's night in a house with servants, lends itself to the temptation of being loved by the lackey of her father Jean. After this, the heroine, unable to withstand shame, cuts off her life by suicide. The last hysterical throwing of Julie is interpreted by researchers as signs of a comprehensive degradation of the individual.

Frecken Julie is really not ready for life, does not know how and does not want to live. She feels like a stranger everywhere and disgusted with everything. And, what is even more frightening, the girl is completely incapable, figuratively speaking, to look ahead, she does not see any future for herself. Many researchers of theatrical art base their conclusions on the character of the main heroine in the author's foreword to the play. In it Strindberg with a bit of pride, and very insistently argues that in the play "Freken Julie" he managed to show the audience a completely new character. Jules's actions, according to him, are strictly motivated, and her sad fate is explained by a number of socio-psychological and even medical reasons. The character of the girl, no doubt, strong, bright, though rather strange.

The reasons for the "fall"

Why is the life of a wealthy educated girl so tragic? The nature of the girl breaks at once a lot of different factors. On the maternal line, it has not quite a certain origin, because of what in its soul grows a social complex. Maimed the fate of the heroine and inadequate sex education, as well as unexpected material complications in her family. Not the least role is played by the special physical and emotional excitement peculiar to Julie's sensitive thinking. All this is very close to the late work of Strindberg, his so-called "chamber plays", which was born almost twenty years later, "Freken Julie."

The essence of Julie's character

The most important motive of the story of the main character is the motive for her fall, originally embodied in the girl's repeated obsessive dream. What happens to her in the statement further, is only the real embodiment of this dream. In the creativity of the author of the play, sleep is the most important category of theatrical thought. In his later "chamber plays", where, you can say, there are no heroes, and there are only characters, they live precisely according to the laws of sleep. That Julie, although it is explicit, evokes sympathy and experience of the heroine - lives by the same laws. In a sense, this girl is "woven from a substance the same as our dreams." What happens to her on the plot, can not be reduced to the usual "fall" of the countess with the servant-lackey. Drawing her through obsessive dreams, the fatal abyss is much deeper than this affair with the footman. And it is not by chance that in the play the Countess Julie starts talking about dreams.

Dreams embodied in reality

The girl dreams that she persistently pulls down, deeper and deeper, but that's just something that prevents and does not let her. What she needs "down", Julie knows the inner nature, although she hardly realizes it with her mind, so the decision to break her life by suicide seems to her to be the only right one. However, the heroine also commits suicide, as if in a dream - she seems to be in a state of hypnosis, completely unaware of what is happening to her. That Julie, who with her mind and soul belongs to the dream world, a semi-fantastic world, understands only one thing: the inevitability of one's own end. But the nature of the character of the heroine is still ambivalent, the edge of her nature, Julie, also touches what can be called a very real world, with the very world in which Jean's lackey, and especially the cook Christina, are quite firmly established, symbolizing the truly aggressive stability of reality. Julie is a much more fragile, unstable creature, constantly riveted by the soul between what her dreams are and how she perceives reality.

The effective side of her image is expressed in agonizing inner agony: there is fear and a weak but still existing hope, and attempts to reverse the events. According to critics, Julie is grotesquely touching in an attempt to be truly sincere with a lackey who is not able to understand her simply because of her completely different mental organization. But the girl just need to speak out, and she does not care who, however, she has more to talk to and no one else. In addition, it's Jean who decides to use the heroine as a kind of "weapon" of suicide.

Reviews about the Moscow performance

"Freken Julie" reviews the audience is very contradictory, as, indeed, many theatrical productions, especially with a socio-psychological orientation. In general, negative feedback from viewers is related, according to them, with unjustified cruelty shown on the scene in the episodes of the killing of a chicken and a dog. In addition, many comments point out that the decision to transfer the action of the play to modern Russia deprived the plot of any meaning, because what was a "fall" and tragedy in the 19th century, the modern world seems completely ridiculous. Some even note that after watching the play they have a heavy sediment on their soul.

Of course, do not forget that these are only private opinions, completely rely on which would be a mistake. Moreover, the performance has no less positive reviews, which largely come down to the brilliant play of actors who literally live on the stage of their characters' lives and give themselves to their profession without a trace. It's no surprise that the performance "Freken Julie" tickets are sold for more than one year, and each of them takes out their impressions from what he saw on the stage.