WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 14 February (matinee) and runs through 28 February 2026

Patrick Marber (The Producers, Garrick Theatre) reimagines Strindberg on the eve of Labour’s 1945 election win as the daughter of a powerful MP sparks a forbidden flirtation with her father’s chauffeur.

• Read on for reasons including how this is ripe for a West End transfer to a larger venue

Written in 1888, the titular Miss Julie, here played by Liz Francis making her London stage debut, is revelling in the transition of PM from Winston Churchill to Clement Attlee and cavorting with her father’s servants celebrating change on an historic July evening.

The original Strindberg was about an evolutionary life and death battle and Darwinism, or survival of the fittest, between the middle class Miss Julie and working class but aspirational chauffeur John brought to life vividly by Tom Varey (from TV’s No Offence).

The action takes place in a kitchen as John’s exhausted servant fiancee Christine, a believable Charlene Boyd, works and occasionally sleeps while Miss Julie attempts to seduce her father’s chauffeur.

We watched film Wuthering Heights the night before we see this and the 2 remakes share an interest in the sexual dynamic of a relationship where the woman has more power than the man and isn’t afraid to use it.

At 1 point Miss Julie orders the chauffeur to kiss her shoe and then the canary in her cage – symbolic of the freedom or lack of it – still felt by this desperate couple meets a grisly end.

Boyd’s Christine even gets in on the act by ordering her fiance to change his clothes in front of her.

In the intimacy of the Park’s 90-seater the chauffeur’s world coming crashing around his ears as his aspirations change when he realises Miss Julie has little money of her own rings all the louder because we are drawn so vividly into the drama.

Ripe for a West End transfer to a larger venue.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Park Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen a Patrick Marber show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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