REVOLUTION OF THE STAGE 1700–1850

August Strindberg – Expressionism & the unconscious

It is a sultry Midsummer Eve in 1889, past midnight. In a cramped upstairs hall of a Copenhagen student club, by the flicker of gaslight, an illicit theatrical experiment reaches its climax. On a makeshift stage – really just a cleared space at one end of the room – a young woman in a tattered silk evening dress stands rigid, a straight razor glinting in her hand. Across from her, a man in a servant’s livery whispers urgently. The woman’s face, once proud and haughty, is drained of color; her eyes stare as if at some horror only she sees. The man – her father’s valet – slowly intones, with a mix of cold command and pity: “Go now, Miss Julie.” A long silence. The audience, packed onto benches mere feet away, leans in, scarcely breathing. Miss Juli ...