Around Miss Julie is a brand new Canadian play brought to Ottawa Fringe by a group of Concordia grads. It takes a look at the uncertainty of being in your early twenties, at the hilarious and sometimes manic process of putting on a play, and the relationships we develop or destroy along the way.
Should you see it?
In Around Miss Julie, a clueless and green director decides to use daddy’s money to produce and direct an adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie because she feels connected to the main character based on life similarities (including their name). The three actors hired for the production quickly realize they’re on their own and are left to deal with everything spiraling further and further out of control.
Around Miss Julie is a hilariously fun show with scenes blending from rehearsals of Miss Julie to life imitating art between the characters of the play. It’s a strong show right from the beginning and builds to hilarious pay off when their director eventually disappears entirely, leaving them only the news that they don’t actually have the rights to put up the show they’ve been rehearsing. With the promo done, the venue prepped, and opening night looming closer, what’s a trio to do? Let’s just say you’ll be surprised.
Produced by Hopegrown Production out of Montreal, the cast of Around Miss Julie are all out of Concordia. Having trained together for four years, the chemistry between them makes them a tight knit group with interaction as strong as you can ask from any ensemble.
I’d never heard of Strindberg’s Miss Julie before and don’t think that lack of knowledge hurt my enjoyment of this play at all, but if you are familiar with the “inspired by” material you can certainly consider that a bonus going in.
Around Miss Julie is thoroughly entertaining and did what few shows at Ottawa Fringe were able to this year, keep my full attention from start to finish, eagerly waiting for what was coming next.
About Allan Mackey
Allan Mackey is editor-in-chief of Production Ottawa, which, really, is too fancy a title. He also acts as show producer for Should You See It, making sure you get your answer in just about two minutes every time. He writes stuff and occasionally turns that stuff into movies. Keep being awesome!
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