Set on the eve of Winston Churchill’s defeat in the 1945 General Election, a momentous day in British history – one of several elephants in the room that pervade the first season of the epic Netflix series ‘The Crown’ – Patrick Marber’s erotic reworking of August Strindberg’s naturalistic play ‘Miss Julie’ is a compelling psychological drama and examination of class.
In an English country house, the privileged Miss Julie (Maria Winther Nørgaard) strides into the servants’ quarter, a section of the house emancipated (temporarily at least) by Labour’s landslide victory, and starts to flirt with the chauffeur (Benjamin Stender).
His fiancee, a housemaid (Johanne Wang-Holm), watches on as the characters face up to a new world order in which the toffs and the gents won’t necessarily be on top anymore – both in the boardroom and the bedroom.
While Stender is well known to That Theatre audiences thanks to his Reumert-winning performance in ‘The Woman in Black’ and energetic turn in ‘Marathon’, director Ian Burns is this time around equally excited about Nørgaard.
The 25-year-old Danish actress’s “rare ability” reminds him of Natalie Wood and a young Elizabeth Taylor, he told INOUT.
“I saw her one-woman show at BådTeatret and forgot where I was because she was so good,” he said. “She is a talent to watch. And her chemistry with Benjamin is electric.”
Sound like we’ve got a live one.
