It is always a pleasure to return to the Park Theatre, and this production once again confirms why it remains such a rewarding venue for intimate, high-quality drama. After Miss Julie was staged in Park90, the smaller and more enclosed of the theatre’s two spaces, and it proved to be the perfect setting for a play that thrives on tension, proximity, and emotional exposure.
Originally written by August Strindberg in 1888 and boldly reconceptualised by playwright Patrick Marber in 1995, After Miss Julie explores class conflict, power, desire, and social hierarchy. While its origins are firmly rooted in the late nineteenth century, the themes of privilege, aspiration, and emotional manipulation still resonate today, lending the piece a surprising modern relevance.
Liz Francis delivered a compelling performance as Julie, portraying her as beautiful, entitled, and privileged, yet riddled with contradictions. Her Julie exuded a sexy, demanding confidence while allowing flashes of excruciating vulnerability and longing to surface. At times spoilt and petulant, at others poised and refined, this Julie possessed a troubling masochistic streak and emotional volatility, revealing a deeply fractured, childlike psyche. Francis handled these complexities deftly, making Julie both difficult to like and impossible to ignore.
Julie’s obsessive romantic fixation centres on John, her father’s chauffeur and indispensable servant, played with brooding intensity by Tom Varey. Varey imbued John with a quiet masculinity and a constant awareness of his position within the household and wider society. Yet beneath his restraint simmered an ambition to transcend his station. His self-education through reading his master’s books was a poignant symbol of this desire to climb the social ladder, making his attraction to Julie feel as much about power and opportunity as passion.
Completing this taut three-hander was Christine, the cook and fellow servant, played by Charlene Boyd. Ostensibly engaged to John and dreaming of a conventional family life, Christine was portrayed with touching sweetness and naivety. Boyd captured her quiet devotion beautifully, making her eventual rude awakening all the more devastating as she is forced to confront an unforgiving truth.
The play is set entirely in the kitchen of a grand country house, evoking echoes of Upstairs Downstairs – a space where servants labour, socialise, and momentarily let their guards down. The set, complete with working kitchen utensils, tables and chairs, a direct telephone line to the master of the house, and the master’s shoes laid out for polishing, was richly detailed. Credit is due to Eleanour Wintour for the set and costume design, which grounded the production firmly in its world.
With the audience seated on all four sides of the stage, the immersive layout allowed for an uninterrupted and intimate view of the action. In this cosy, enclosed space, it felt as though we were not merely observing events but intruding upon them, complicit witnesses to the emotional unravelling taking place.
The chemistry and shifting power dynamics between the three protagonists were finely calibrated, generating sustained tension and intrigue throughout. The intensity never faltered, and the claustrophobic setting only heightened the sense of inevitability that drives the play toward its bleak conclusion.
This production is a beautifully crafted and absorbing interpretation of a classic text – proof that a very old story, when handled with intelligence and sensitivity, can still feel urgent and unsettling. A compelling piece that deserves a full house.
Review by Bernadette Lintunen
On the eve of Labour’s historic 1945 election win, Julie, daughter of a powerful MP, and her father’s chauffeur, John, spark a forbidden flirtation that quickly turns into a tense, deadly struggle for power, desire, and survival.
CAST
Liz Francis – Julie
Tom Varey – John
Charlene Boyd – Christine
CREATIVES
Writer – Patrick Marber
Dadiow Lin – Director
Eleanour Wintour – Set and Costume Designer
Ed Lewis – Composer and Sound Designer
Jack Hathaway – Lighting Designer
Georgia Topley – Casting Director
Yarit Dor – Intimacy and Fight Director
AFTER MISS JULIE
Park Theatre, Park90
11 to 28 February 2026
