Mies Julie, Restitutions of Body and Soil

Yael Farber’s production of Mies Julie at the Baxter Theatre is weighty and worthy.

Mies Julie is South African-born theatre maker Yael Farber’s latest creation.

Farber’s work enjoys international attention and has been showcased across the globe in more than a dozen countries. Mies Julie premiered at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2012 and is currently on at the Baxter’s Flipside venue, before it transfers to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival next month.

Retaining little more than the structure and some lines of Strindberg’s original play, Farber has set Mies Julie in the kitchen of a Karoo farm.

During the course of one celebratory night – Freedom Day 2012 – the love-hate relationship between a farm labourer (John) and the farmer’s daughter (Mies Julie) is exposed, and a violent struggle over identity, sexuality, land ownership, power, memory and mothers is laid bare on the kitchen table, in more ways than one. The domestic worker who raised them both (Christine) bears witness to their brutal battle, but remains a hapless bystander, overwhelmed by her own struggle to maintain the status quo and stay on the land where her ancestors lie buried.

Apart from the themes of identity, sexuality and the body as a battleground, the most powerful issues that the play tackles are those of land ownership and belonging in post-apartheid South Africa. Eighteen years into democracy, the dream of real freedom and equality for all has long-since faded. What remains, in this particular Karoo kitchen, are two disaffected youngsters - one black, one white - and a mother who is exhausted, hopeless and resigned.

This battered farmhouse kitchen clearly represents a microcosm of our society. What unfolds on that cracked tiled floor is not something South Africans find palatable, yet it is a subject that desperately needs attention.

Farber’s dialogue is nothing short of beautiful. The language of the play expresses the unfolding disillusionment, rage and desperation in poetic and poignant metaphors. Apart from the strong visual metaphors inherent in the set, the language takes the audience on another imaginative journey - in some small way sugar-coating some of the bitter pain bubbling below the surface.

The nuanced and detailed performances by Cronje, Mantsai and Ntshinga are riveting. The characters grapple with their opposing truths, and the balance of power shifts to and fro between the main protagonists, leaving the audience hanging onto their every word.

Despite the show being the second that day, the performances were so fresh and raw, one could have been fooled into believing the actors were discovering the text with the audience. Farber’s direction is relentlessly demanding of the actors, yet the powerful performances she obtains pay tribute to her deep respect and love of actors. This is great theatre.

Patrick Curtis’ set is striking, while it feels as though Daniel and Matthew Pencer’s eerie soundscapes envelope the embattled kitchen set. Tandiwe Nofirst Lungisafrom the Ngqoko Cultural Group embodies the spirits of the ancestors buried beneath the tiles as she wanders into the playing area, chanting or playing unusual instruments. The musicians, both on and off-stage, add another theatrical dimension to the very particular atmosphere Farber has created.

Farber’s text allows for brief moments of humour and even hope, but don’t expect answers, suggested solutions to the turmoil of the South African condition, or a happy ending. Mies Julie is certainly not light entertainment, but then again, neither is the search for common ground in the ‘new South Africa’. This play is moving and beautiful, yet devastating; just like the country we share.

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Mies Julie runs at the Baxter Flipside until 26 July; showtime is 7pm.

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