CanStage is celebrating Black History Month with the Canadian premiere of Miss Julie: Freedom Summer.
Julie begins a dangerous liaison with her father’s black driver in this new adaptation of Miss Julie, now playing at Bluma Appel Theatre.
(with video)
CanStage is celebrating Black History Month with the Canadian premiere of Miss Julie: Freedom Summer.
This adaptation, which was nominated for the LA Drama Critics Circle Award, was written and directed by Stephen Sachs. It was inspired by Miss Julie, the controversial August Strindberg classic written 121 years ago.
Miss Julie pitted class, gender and sexuality against shifting moralities. Although today it is considered an extraordinary piece of work, it was banned from public performance until the early 20th century because of its scandalous nature.
In this new adaptation, Sachs throws race into the mix. It is set in 1964 in Greenwood, Miss., just two days after president Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, when racial tensions were really high.
“The issue of racial tension is much more relevant to me today than the original issue of class struggle, which Strindberg wrote about in his play in 1888,” explains Sachs, 49, the Los Angeles-based writer/director.
“Race is so much a part of the DNA of my country and of Canada, and I think of many countries today. Racial tension is something I get and immediately feel as an American – it is so much a part of who we are, something we’ve grown up with and fought over and struggled with as a country. To me, adapting the play and making it about racial and sexual tension made it something I could immediately identify with.”
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer premiered in Los Angeles in February 2007 at the award-winning Fountain Theatre which Sachs co-founded in 1990 and of which he is the artistic director.
Julie (Caroline Cave), the daughter of a wealthy Superior Court judge, begins a dangerous liaison with John (Kevin Hanchard), her father’s African-American chauffeur, shattering societal barriers and lives. John’s fiancée, Christine (Raven Dauda), the household cook, must take a stand. Tragedy becomes unavoidable.
“The thing that makes it more pertinent, exciting and relevant than when we originally produced it in Los Angeles is that we elected a black president,” Sachs says. “When we first launched this play, I don’t think any of us would have imagined it possible. [This] makes the play even more relevant.
“When you think about the characters in this play in 1964, it was a time in our country when many of the citizens in the south were denied the right to vote because they were black, and now, a little more than 45 years later, we have elected a black president. The play gives us the opportunity to look back and see how far we’ve come, and also to be reminded, I think, how far we need to go, because there are still hidden prejudices in all of us.”
He says Miss Julie: Freedom Summer is about more than just racial tension, it is also about a sexual power struggle. It is about the allure of what is considered taboo and the need to cross the barrier lines between men and women, black and white, rich and poor.
Sachs wants to shake audiences up by having them experience something compelling, riveting, disturbing and funny, and by getting them to think and to be aroused, because it a very sexy play with a lot of sensuality and violence.
“I’m always drawn to material about the feelings of the other in society. I’m drawn to stories of conflict, struggle and overcoming obstacles, which I think is very much part of Jewish tradition,” he says.
Sachs’ plays include Central Avenue, Open Window and Sweet Nothing in my Ear, which he adapted as a CBS television movie in 2008 starring Jeff Daniels and Marlee Matlin. He has also directed works by internationally acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard and others. Sachs will soon be directing Fugard’s newest play, Coming Home, at the Fountain, followed by the Los Angeles premiere of Shining City by Conor McPherson
The former stage, movie and television actor says there are times when he most enjoys directing plays, but when he gets too involved with the business of running the theatre he enjoys going into writer mode.
“I really do enjoy the solitude of writing a play and being able to focus on that. It’s immensely rewarding to be able to see the play come alive on stage. It is thrilling to see the play do well.”
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer is a co-production of The Canadian Stage Company and Vancouver Playhouse Theatre. It runs until March 7 at the Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E. For tickets call 416-368-3110 or visit www.canstage.com.
