A lackluster performance by the actors of ‘After Miss Julie’

The theater goes dark, the lights come up, and the audience sees an actor, waiting. For five minutes.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s “After Miss Julie,” which opened on Oct. 22nd at the American Airlines Theater and stars Sienna Miller and Johnny Lee Miller, is supposedly a tale of seduction. Instead, it is a tale consisting of uncharged silence.

Considering the long scenes full of not-so-dramatic pauses, the play appears to value silence as a dramatic quality, but never considers the fact that it simply causes the play to drag. Filled with pauses and blank expressions, the speech in which Johnny Lee Miller confesses his love to Sienna Miller seems like the actor is fishing for his lines.

An adaptation of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” the play takes place in 1945, when the British Labour Party is replacing Winston Churchill as the ruling member of government. During the celebrations that ensue, aristocrat Miss Julie (Sienna Miller) parties with her staff and begins an abusive power struggle and romance with the help John (Johnny Lee Miller). Caught in the midst of this affair is Christine (Marin Ireland), a cook engaged to John.

In the few moments of action, Ireland’s performance stands out, as she adds a level of realism to her performance which the other two actors lack. Ireland fully realizes her character through the convincing embodiment of her relationship’s emotional roller coaster.

Sienna Miller’s Julie reads as strained and Johnny Lee Miller is twitchy, with a propensity to turn his back to the audience. He lacks the charm necessary for the archetypal philanderer. Julie and John’s attraction lacks a tangible sexual tension, and the moment when they both give into their passions seems abrupt and forced as a result. The longing and lust the characters are supposed to share is not present, and the stolen glances are blank rather than loaded.

While the second half of the play adds a certain level of passion, it is not enough to rescue the entire production.

The set, however, is superbly detailed. From the working faucet to the stairwell entrances to the plates in the cupboard, the realism provides the actors with a great environment in which to interact.
If only the actors’ performances rose to the occasion.

“After Miss Julie” is playing at the American Airlines Theater Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. This production is a limited engagement through Dec. 6.