Raw, unfiltered theatre
Mies Julie relocates August Strindberg's play in the tinderbox of race and colonialism that's South Africa - and it is riveting, says HELMI YUSOF
Add BT as a preferred sourceWHEN Mies Julie opened in Vancouver in March, the audience was so shocked by what they saw that they kept silent for a whole 10 seconds after it ended - and then got on their feet to deliver a long, rousing ovation.
The play has been lauded by critics as "powerful" in Edinburgh, "explosively sexual" in London and "a triumph" in New York. The same production by Baxter Theater Center of the University of Cape Town is now set to open in Singapore on Wednesday, on the invitation of the Singapore Repertory Theatre.
Some of the shock and scandal it has generated come from the fiery sexual chemistry between the two leads Hilda Cronje and Bongile Mantsai. They play the upper-class woman Julie and her manservant John respectively, a pair whose sexual attraction leads to tragedy.
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