What does it mean to have power in today’s society? Is it money? Status? Friends? Or are all three of those interconnected into a web of fantasy? Polly Stenham’s Julie, an adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, is a captivating look at the life of a party-girl heiress and a night which will change her life forever. Directed by Jordan Laffrenier, Julie is my favourite Icarus Theatre production to date!

It’s Julie’s birthday, and there’s a raging party occurring upstairs. The play opens with Julie dancing in a sort of trance: at times fluidly moving around the stage and at others seemingly struggling against her own body and its desires. Julie, portrayed by Emily Anne Corcoran, is clearly intoxicated as she returns to the party, and the then action begins. Kristina (Tara Sky) and her fiance Jean (Jamar Adams-Thompson) work for Julie’s father, and they’re already beginning to clean up from the night’s shenanigans as the party begins to peter out. However, as the night goes on, Julie’s relationships with the two staff members start to come into focus more clearly, which leads Julie and Jean onto a course of life-altering decisions. From one jarring revelation to the next, Julie keeps you guessing until its final crushing finale.

One of my favourite elements which Stenham’s text highlights within its modern context is the idea of para-social relationships – where we feel like we know someone via their proximity to us or our access to them via social media, but we don’t actually know that much about who they really are. We see how Julie has formed these relationships in two very distinct ways: with her friends and with the staff. Jean comments about how the people at Julie’s party, her “friends”, are laughing at her (not with her) and seem to be there for the clout of it all. They just want to be seen at one of Julie’s parties, and are therefore using their supposed closeness to her without actually knowing anything about her and allowing Julie to think that they’re actually her friends. While on the other hand, Julie absolutely thinks that Jean and Kristina are her friends; while she might share personal things about herself with Kristina, and Jean certainly overhears his fair share of gossip and information while he drives her, at the end of the day her father is paying them to be there.

This confusion over the place she occupies in Jean and Kristina’s lives is what gets her into trouble in the latter part of the play. But the one thing which struck me about Julie is how absolutely alone she is. I think she already knew this before the events which we witness, but to find out rather unequivocally that the people she thought were her friends were either using her or think of themselves as her employees, that’s a tough blow. There was a moment where Jean and Kristina are talking about Julie, and I remember thinking so clearly “oh, she is profoundly lonely.” Corcoran shows us all of this and more with her stunning performance; oscillating between spiteful and pitiful, she does the role the justice it deserves. Adams-Thompson’s Jean is equally as frustrating yet desirable, showing us his character’s heart while also breaking ours through Jean’s actions. Kristina is the one character who we can truly admire, and Sky’s portrayal radiates a sort of resigned kindness and yet true empathy. There are so many avenues Kristina could take within the context of this story, and yet we see her choose the one where she remains the responsible, reliable person Julie needs her to be.

Julie is a pointed reminder that loneliness can come for anyone: it doesn’t matter how rich you are or how many friends you think you have, at the end of the day, is there anyone there sharing your life with you? Boldly told and beautifully performed, Julie is a not-to-be-missed production.

Julie is playing in the Extraspace at Tarragon Theatre until March 28. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.icarustheatre.ca/season2526

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Cover Photo: Emily Anne Corcoran. Photo by Sandro Pehar.

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