Gröndahl, Laura
Experiences in Theatrical Spaces
Five Scenographies of Miss Julie
100020
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Experiences in Theatrical Spaces is a study about contemporary Finnish scenography. It deals with five different stagings of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, a play where scenography and vision have a special role. The scenic illusion should help the spectator to understand the tragedy more profoundly but the spatial order locates the audience inside the fictive world where they only see a fragmentary view. Thereby the certainty of knowledge and the trust in empirical observation is put on stake and the omniscient angelic eye is replaced by a subjective vision. Each of the Miss Julie scenographies, studied in this book, reject the naturalism that is traditionally connected to the play. Instead they use stage space and vision as communication in a great variety of ways. They give cause for theoretical discussions about the construction and functioning of visual perceptions and spatial experiences. How are meanings created through scenography? How is the audience made to perceive the stage? How is their perception supposed to generate ideas, understanding, emotions and experiences? These issues are analyzed by using the following performances as case studies: Tampere University, Draamastudio 1970: “Strindberg 70?” The Turku Swedish Theatre 1979: Miss Julie KOM Theatre 1984: Miss Julie The National Theatre, Willensauna studio stage, 1984: Miss Julie Q Theatre, Puoli-Q studio stage, 1999: Miss Julie