3 August 2018. Julie at the National.

I did not find this the most memorable piece of theatre. It is presented as an update of Strindberg's work, set in a large house near Hampstead Heath. Here we find a party in full swing, complete with cliches. Julie is the troubled rich kid who has hangers on rather than true friends and who seeks solace in the servants' quarters where she flirts with Jean, the driver from Cote d'Ivoire. He succumbs all too readily to Julie's  seductions, readily forgetting his partner Kristina who also works in the house. He immediately suggests Julie fund a venture that they can share in the Cap Verde islands. Before they run off, she feels obliged to kill and liquidise her bird - an event so theatrical as to be ludicrous, though I heard one or two members of the audience wondering if it had 'really' happened. Of course, all does not end happily but I wonder what we are meant to be left thinking. It all felt a bit obvious. Nonetheless, the staging was terrific with a very dramatic set revealing from time to time the party in full swing in the background. The night I went, Julie's part was taken by her understudy - she carried it off very well and I don't think Vanessa Kirby would have allayed my doubts about the play itself.