In Moscow, the loud premiere of the production of August Strindberg's "Freken Julie." The Theater of Nations, in which Yevgeny Mironov works as artistic director, invited to stage a popular play by German director Thomas Ostermeyer.
The audience was only able to watch the original version of the production once. After that, the performance was banned for reasons of censorship. Today, "Freken Julie" is a performance that is shown on the theatrical stages of many countries of the world, and which is stunningly popular. In Moscow, the story of Strindberg acquired a completely new sound, and the play was moved to Russia in the 21st century.
Intriguing start
As a prelude to the performance, the audience can see the following picture on the screen installed deep in the scene: the woman decapitates, after which she slowly gutting the chicken. Dead chicken paws and sharp confident movements of the knife create the necessary mood - prepare the audience for a tough conversation.
Evgeni Mironov invited Thomas Ostermeyer to the role of director, as he is widely known for his ability to literally dissect relations between people and to the finer points of exploring the psychology of women. Mironov, expressing his impression of the work of the German director, noted that his performances caused a real shock, that he was tough and sharp in translating his thoughts on stage. However, the play "Freken Julie" turned out different - according to Mironov, the director created almost Chekhov's nuances.
The story of the play
Swedish playwright August Strindberg staged his play back in 1889. However, after the premiere, 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 19th century.
The plot focuses on the tragic love of people from different social backgrounds. The beautiful aristocrat succumbs to the impulse of her heart and becomes the mistress of a servant in her father's house - commoner Jean. Relations between the heroes have nothing lofty, they are carnal - such a picture, of course, was completely unthinkable for his era. The displays of the work created by August Strindberg, resumed only 17 years later.
Russian interpretation
As already mentioned, the Russian audience was able to see a new reading of the play. It was the story of Freken Julie transferred to modern Russia. The Theater of Nations, led by playwright Mikhail Durnenkov, has taken care of creating such a version of the classical production that is closer and more understandable to the heart of the viewer. The main roles are played by recognized and very talented actors - Evgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova. Only in this interpretation of the play Mironov plays the driver, and Khamatova - the daughter of the oligarch. The main character is a tragic, causing a lot of conflicting emotions, image.
Work on Freken Julia
For more than two years there have been negotiations on cooperation with the director. As a result, Ostermeier gave his consent not only for the reason that the Russian theater traditions are very strong. He was also interested in the history of the play itself, which, in a new reading, took place in Russia of the 21st century.
The director admitted that he did not study Russian reality, therefore, he trusted the playwright in everything and did not correct any of his proposals. In addition, Ostermayer noted that the production of Freken Julia involved talented Russian actors who could enrich the action with the depth of their feelings.
Action start
The play "Freken Julia" immediately captures the viewer's attention with an intriguing intense dialogue, and then develops more and more rapidly. The main character is betraying his bride. The daughter of the oligarch Julia for the first time in his life is in the company of ordinary people. The maid Christine decides to forgive the groom who cheated on her. Heroes are completely confused in their feelings and relationships. Julia sees only one way out of the circumstances that swallowed her - suicide. And all these dramatic events take place against the backdrop of pure falling snow.
main character
Fraken Julie has become a symbol of the heroine of our time, the character and inner world of which is sometimes defined as “half-female-half-male”. The viewer can see only one night in the life of the heroine - her last night. In the original version of the play, Julie is the daughter of the count, who, left alone on Ivan's night in the house with the servants, succumbs to the temptation to be her father's beloved footman Jean. After this, the heroine, unable to bear the shame, ends her life with suicide. The last hysterical throwing of Julie is interpreted by researchers as signs of a comprehensive degradation of the personality.
Fraken Julie is really not ready for life, she does not know how and does not want to live. Everywhere she feels herself a stranger and disgusted with everything. And, even worse, the girl is not at all capable, figuratively speaking, of looking ahead, she does not see any future for herself. Many researchers of theatrical art base their conclusions on the character of the main character on the author's introduction to the play. In it, Strindberg with no concealed pride and very persistently asserts that in the play "Freken Julie" he managed to show the audience a completely new character. Julie’s actions, he said, are strictly motivated, and her sad fate is explained by a number of socio-psychological and even medical reasons. The character of the girl is, without a doubt, strong, bright, although strange enough.
The reasons for the "fall"
Why is the life of a rich, educated girl developing so tragically? The girl’s character breaks many different factors at once. On the maternal side, it has not a very definite origin, because of which social insecurity is growing in her soul. Cripples the fate of the heroine and inadequate sex education, as well as unexpected material complications in her family. Not the last role is played by the special physical and emotional arousal characteristic of Julie's sensitive thinking. All this is very close to the late work of Strindberg, his so-called "chamber plays", which appeared almost twenty years later, "Freken Julie."
The essence of Julie's character
The most important motive of the main character’s story is the motive of her fall, originally embodied in the girl’s obsessive dream repeating again and again. What happens to her in the production further is only a real embodiment of this dream. In the work of the author of the play, sleep is the most important category of theatrical thought. In his later "chamber plays", where, one might say, there are no heroes, but only characters, they live precisely according to the laws of sleep. So Julie, although she is explicit, causing sympathy and emotional experience by the heroine - lives by the same laws. In a sense, this girl is "woven from the same substance as our dreams." What happens to her in the story cannot be reduced to the usual “fall” of the countess with a lackey servant. The fateful abyss that draws her through obsessive dreams is much deeper than this affair with a lackey. And it is no accident that in the play it was Countess Julie who began the conversation about dreams.
Dreams come true
The girl dreams that she stubbornly pulls down, deeper and deeper, but only something prevents and does not let her. What she “needs down”, Julie knows the inner nature, although it is unlikely to be aware of this with his mind, so the decision to end her life by suicide seems to her the only right one. However, the heroine commits her suicide, as if in a dream - she seemed to be in a state of hypnosis, not fully realizing what was happening to her. That Julie, who with her mind and soul belongs to the world of dreams, a semi-fantastic world, perfectly understands only one thing - the inevitability of her own end. But the nature of the character of the heroine is still ambiguous, the edge of her nature, Julie is in contact with what can be called a very real world, with that very world in which the footman Jean and especially the cook Christina have quite firmly established themselves, symbolizing the truly aggressive stability of reality. Julie is a creature much more fragile, unstable, constantly rushing about by the soul between what her dreams are and how she perceives reality.
The effective side of her image is expressed in excruciating inner agony: there is fear and a weak, but still existing hope, and attempts to reverse the events taking place. According to critics, Julie is grotesquely touching in an attempt to be truly sincere with a footman who is unable to understand her simply because of his completely different mental organization. But the girl just needs to speak out, and she no longer cares in front of anyone, however, she doesn’t have to talk to anyone else. In addition, it is Jean who decides to use the heroine as a kind of "tool" of suicide.
Reviews about the Moscow performance
"Freken Julie" the audience has very conflicting reviews, as, however, and many theatrical productions, especially with a socio-psychological orientation. Basically, the negative feedback from the audience is related, according to them, to the unjustified cruelty shown on the scene in the episodes of the murder of a chicken and a dog. In addition, many comments indicate 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 seems completely ridiculous to the modern world. Some even note that after watching the play, they left a heavy residue on the soul.
Of course, do not forget that these are only private opinions, completely relying on which would be a mistake. Moreover, the performance has no less positive reviews, which largely come down to the ingenious play of actors who literally live on the stage of their characters' lives and surrender to their profession without a trace. It is not surprising that tickets for the play "Freken Julie" have been sold for more than one year, and everyone takes their impressions out of what they saw on stage.