Theoretical Design - Miss Julie

Miss Julie has a lot to say about class structures and climbing the ranks within them. At one point in the show Jean says “No, I dream that I'm lying in a dark wood under a tall tree and I would up--up to the top, where I can look far over the fair landscape, where the sun is shining. I climb--climb, to plunder the birds' nests up there where the golden eggs lie, but the tree trunk is so thick, so smooth, and the first limb is so high! But I know if I reached the first limb I should climb as though on a ladder, to the top. I haven't reached it yet, but I shall reach it, if only in the dream.” (9). I really like the visual of Jean attempting to elevate his status by climbing the tree, and as the show takes place in the kitchen of the estate, I decided to embrace Jean’s visual rather than Julie’s of a pillar, as the kitchen is a servant’s workspace.
The script also mentions a lot of different plants and flowers, so I decided I wanted to pull the natural world into a period kitchen. I’ve done this by adding trees to the proscenium walls surrounding the stage. I also wanted it to be clear these are a part of the world of the play and not a separate space, so I added a chair and serving bells to one of the trees, with the idea that this area would be where Kristen falls asleep.
The sightlines in this space make staging behind the proscenium wall problematic, and as such I have pushed the walls of the living room as far back as I can while still guaranteeing that all audience members can see. I’ve added a window and a backdrop behind it so that lighting can show the passage of time throughout the play.