PicksInSix Review: Miss Julie - Court Theatre
Trapped, Strindberg Style: Aristocratic Summer Solstice
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Sarah Frances Fiorello
It’s been a long, hard winter here in Chicago, but on the south side at Court Theatre it is currently the longest day of the year. August Strindberg's “Miss Julie” is encapsulated night after night at the turn of the 20th century and in the warmth of midsummer’s eve, for audiences to experience now through March 8th.
The play drops in on Julie’s servants, Jean and Kristine, discussing her wildish, reckless behavior during an otherwise garish (offstage) aristocratic summer solstice. Kristine respectfully heads to bed giving way for Julie and Jean to spend an evening jockeying for position, using status, sex, and social standing as levers to pull on each other to get what they want. The situation grows more dire and claustrophobic, as we slowly become privy to the inner workings of these characters—what haunts them, what moves them, and what traps them despite their agency and overwhelming desire to escape.
Mounting Strindberg in 2026 is an academic undertaking, one that requires care and attention to not only the spirit in which he created the work, but the implications that the piece—alongside Strindberg’s Naturalist theatre movement as a whole—had in the late 1800’s. Ironically, I was put at ease with this production's EDM overture, signaling an earnest understanding that Strindberg was allergic to a comfortable night at the theatre. It says, “Welcome to our psychological experiment, we hope you brought your thinking cap.”
Our three actors carry this play with poise and certainty. Kelvin Roston Jr. shines and makes it look easy as Jean, maneuvering between emotional heavy lifting and thinly veiled subtext, all while serving as a near constant presence on stage during this one hour and 40-minute one act. Mi Kang as Miss Julie rises to the occasion without giving way to what could easily become a two-dimensional, misogynistic, overbaked fever pitch portrayal. She moves with nuance, allowing us to feel both sorry for her and disgusted by her, often at the same time. Rebecca Spence as Kristine delivers each line with surgical precision and dripping with intentionality, offering a master class in theatrical interpretation.
The creative team equally shines here. John Culbert’s stunning scenic design is as beautiful as it is claustrophobic, echoing the emotional notes of Strindberg’s writing. Raquel Adorno’s costume design is delicate and thoughtful while Abhi Shrestha’s dramaturgical work is a cornerstone to the foundation of “Miss Julie’s” resonance. All of this under the expert direction of Dr. Gabrielle Randle-Bent, whose fingerprint is over every inch of this production. No stranger to Court Theatre (directing “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Antigone,” and “The Island”), her scholarly understanding of the work and arresting theatrical storytelling style can be felt, transmuting as one within Culbert’s earthy, organic space.
Harry G. Carlson’s translation of “Miss Julie” does more than hold up at Court Theatre. You’ll be entertained, but that is hardly the point. The actors and creative team make this undertaking look effortless, doing all the requisite work to ensure that the 130-year-old play lands squarely in your lap, offering you a chance to think critically about the themes that are as relevant today as they were at the end of the 19th century.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | SARAH FRANCES FIORELLO is a graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory with a BFA in Music Theatre and a Chicago-based poet, writer, and performer.
Instagram: @writtenbysarahfrances
PHOTO | Michael Brosilow
Court Theatre
presents
Miss Julie
Abelson Auditorium
5535 S. Ellis Ave
through March 8, 2026
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