Leaving Onstage Battles On Stage

Mark Leonard Winter describes the relationship between his character Jean and Miss Julie's titular character in the new Kip Williams-directed MTC production as a "cage match". It's an apt description of August Strindberg's intense 1888 drama about a wealthy young lady whose dalliance with her father's valet, Jean, isn't able to provide either party with the escape they desire.

"It's essentially a cage match between two people where one is oppressed by their gender and the other is oppressed by their class," Winter explains. "It's a pretty raw state that we need to be in to attack each other that much."

Facing off against Winter for this verbal sparring match is Robin McLeavy, the play's leading lady. And though the gloves may be off on stage, Winter is quick to point out that the pair have done plenty of ground work to ensure what happens on stage, stays on stage. "It requires a lot of love and care off stage. I think we've been very conscious of looking after each other and making sure we are essentially having a good time and recognising the game behind it."

"We keep talking about Donald Trump. And his ideas about punishing women for having abortions and his whole capitalist perspective really."

McLeavy in turn says that unlike her co-star, who will happily ponder the day's work after leaving the theatre, she is careful to switch off and leave Miss Julie at the end of the day. "This is something I've been developing since I was a student at NIDA, especially with theatre because it is so intense with the sheer repetition of eight shows a week, at the end of the day I try to let go of everything. I try not to think about or solve any lingering problems with the text. I let my mind go and when I come back to the rehearsal room I start again."

Renowned as a particularly misogynistic play for the way Strindberg punishes Miss Julie for her choices and her desire for autonomy, this production seeks to give audiences more insight into the motivations of the main character. Helpmann award-winning director Williams has adapted Strindberg's Swedish text to use language less dated than Strindberg's condemning invective.

"It doesn't ring true to a contemporary ear; his condemnation of women," Winter says of Strindberg's original work. "We've needed to find a way to give a true voice to Miss Julie and the other characters so their arguments can't be dismissed as flippantly as they are in the original."

And as much as Miss Julie has been used to explore a woman's place in society and in relationships, the play also resonates today in its explorations of Julie and Jean's social ambitions. Wealth and power have been at the forefront of the actor's discussions with Williams from the beginning of the play's preparation.

"We keep talking about Donald Trump," McLeavy says. "And his ideas about punishing women for having abortions and his whole capitalist perspective really. In the play Jean is an aspirational capitalist. And it's driving him crazy."

"Certainly events in America have highlighted what happens when you ignore the working class," adds Winter. "With the collapse of Wall Street, when people lost their homes, it wasn't rich people who were in trouble. And no one was prosecuted for those crimes. That gives rise to the likes of Donald Trump because people are so angry."