Little Miss Julie is a new adaptation of August Strindberg’s 1888 play, Miss Julie, written by James Harvy and presented by the newly formed Sturm Theatre Company. With Strindberg’s original work running an already lean 80 to 90 minutes, Harvy has done well to bring it down to just over an hour, tailoring it perfectly for the fast-paced Fringe circuit.

Harvy’s adaptation shifts Strindberg’s tragedy of desires for social mobility and self-discovery to the basement kitchen of a New York City mansion in the Gilded Age. Social class is still a strong divide between our characters, but Harvy introduces age into the power dynamics, taking Strindberg’s original 5-year age gap and aging Miss Julie down to 21 and John up to at least 35.

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Harvy, Jeavons, and Patrich should be incredibly proud of the work they have created and in originating these new interpretations of Strindberg’s characters. Harvy certainly needs to get this new adaptation published and licensed; I suspect theatre companies across Australia and around the English-speaking world will want to add it to a future season.