An uneven lead lets down this generally crisp, stripped-down production of After Miss Julie at the Young Vic.
The Young Vic is playing the austerity card high with this revival of Patrick Marber's Strindberg re-boot. Efforts to make this the Young Vic's "greenest" production are emphasised by a programme replete with details of the war-era privations suffered by the British population in the run-up to Labour’s 1945 election victory.
It’s against this backdrop that valet/chauffeur John (Kieran Bew) nurtures dreams of escaping his deferential drudgery, either with trusty fiancé Christine (Polly Frame) or the titular spoilt yet nubile daughter-of-the-Manor (Natalie Dormer).
The power (or rather, class) games between the trio are the focus of the action, with Frame particularly memorable as a coiled spring of sexual tension, seemingly hurt many times in the past, yet relentlessly setting herself up for further heartbreak.
It’s a different story for Dormer’s Julie, who, whether as a result of Marber’s writing or inconsistent execution, struggles to find a balance between coquette and vamp. She veers so wildly between the two that it’s initially hard to rationalise the basis for John’s dalliance. This lack of plausibility in the central relationship is a huge shame, because Bew has a great blend of dependable ruggedness and headless impulsion as John, a man trapped by his own terror of freedom. It should be said that Dormer does find her feet in the latter stages, convincing as the empty-headed rich girl whose tragedy is the realisation of her own condition.
Director Natalie Abrahami, despite struggling to help Dormer nail down her character, delivers an impressively crisp production which makes terrific use of a stripped-down, second-hand-furnished Maria space (step forward designer Patrick Burnier). It’s unfortunate though, that the laughs come relatively easily, whilst the three-way tension proves generally elusive.'
After Miss Julie runs at the Young Vic until 7th April
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