A South African \'Miss Julie\' Captivates Edinburgh Festival

By STEVEN MCELROY

EDINBURGH  - With 2,695 events in 279 locations to choose from, the process of deciding what to see here at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be a logistical nightmare. “I don't want to miss anything really fantastic,” you think. Then:  “Can I possibly make it from Assembly on the Mount to Underbelly in Bristo Square in 15 minutes?” (Doubtful.) Planning anxiety kicks in.

Luckily, repeat visits allow for sophisticated strategizing. My tactic this year was to show up later than in the past, allowing me to read reviews and contact folks who were already here seeing and hearing things.

The instruction quickly became clear: see “Mies Julie.”

The show, a South African adaptation of Strindberg's 1888 classic about the bored daughter of a count who spends a passionate with her father's footman, has been getting rave reviews here from The Guardian, The Scotsman and other publications and has already won a couple of awards. Buzz about a possible London production is already circulating.

Adapted by the director Yael Farber (her ‘MoLoRa” played New York last year), “Mies Julie” transplants Strindberg's play to a post-apartheid farmhouse in Cape Karoo where Julie (Hilda Cronje), the daughter of the white Afrikaans master, is dangerously drawn to John (Bongile Mantsai), one of her father's black servants. The production is raw and unapologetic in dealing with both the lingering political wounds and the sexual dynamics between the two central characters. Contact between Julie and John, addressed fearlessly, is as violent as it is erotic.

“Mies Julie,” from the Baxter Theater Centre and South African State Theater, is part of a cluster of South African plays being mounted here through Assembly, one of several production companies that present fringe shows. Also part of the series is a funny and moving 1988 two-hander by Zakes Mda called “And the Girls in Th eir Sunday Dresses,” about a prostitute and a domestic worker who meet while waiting in line to buy rice. As the days drag on â€" that's right, they are in line for days â€" the two women get to know each other and a small but meaningful subversive act begins to take shape.

With more than a half dozen shows, the South African season at Assembly could easily occupy a couple of days of theater-going here. But then that might mean missing out on … well, you see, even with planning this is how it goes here.