My thoughts on AFTER MISS JULIE

AFTER MISS JULIE, Patrick Marber's deceptively titled adaptation of Strindberg's MISS JULIE, as directed by Mark Brokaw for the Roundabout, plays in two different ways: lethargic and uncomfortable. The latter is a good thing. In fact, there were bits and pieces of the course of the 90-minute production that I actually squirmed in my seat. That the rest of the piece was sleep-inducing is not a good thing.

Of course, that's not Brokaw's fault; he can only do so much with a lethargic text (I've always found Marber's work, even the good ones like CLOSER, to be be better than sleeping drugs). And Brokaw's assembled a spitfire cast of Sienna Miller, Jonny Lee Miller and Marin Ireland.

I'm not sure who Sienna Miller is or if this is considered 'star casting,' but either way, she was very impressive as Miss Julie, straddling coy flirtatiousness and insanity. She's also very pretty, and that helps.

Jonny Lee Miller, also, was very good, as was Marin Ireland. But Sienna Miller really took the cake. A particularly notable debut.

Updated On: 10/7/09 at 05:02 PM

This production is definitely only really noteworthy because of Miller. She does make quite an impressive debut.

I suffered through the matinee of this yesterday and wow was it bad. At 95 minutes it feels unnaturally long. If there were an intermission, I would have certainly walked out like I did at the last show I saw at that theater, THe Philanthropist. The actors were fine all around, but they had little to nothing to work with. So that's five bombs in a row at the AA Theater.

And what was with the insane pauses. Were those supposed to add an extra layer on tension? If this was a bit more well paced the show would be down to 80-85 minutes!