Washington Post - Recommended
"...Sometimes, the rawest ingredients yield the deepest flavors, as the basic instinct-driven power players passionately demonstrate in "Mies Julie," the captivating South African reincarnation of August Strindberg's "Miss Julie" that is ensconced for the next 10 days at Shakespeare Theatre Company's Lansburgh Theatre."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"...The renowned Miss Julie (Froken Julie) by August Strindberg has become one of the world's most durable and performed plays. Mies Julie, the exhilarating award-winning South African visionary interpretation of Strindberg's classic, makes it Washington premiere as the hottest ticket in town, and plays in a limited run until November 24, 2013 as the first selection of the 2013-2014 Shakespeare Theatre Company's Presentation Series at The Landsburgh Theatre."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...As Mies Julie, Conje aptly captures a sexual frustration that is inextricably bound to the frisson of an unsettled soul. A bold and erratic portrayal, she does much to surmount the challenges of the character. And there are challenges, for Julie is very hard to read. Is she mentally ill? Is she a symbol of the white oppressor? Is she her father's pawn? Probably all three. But in declining to define Julie with greater clarity, the erratic way in which she pinches and pets, the extremes of her behavior, Farber makes her more a vehicle than a viable human being. Every gesture she makes - of antagonism, love or despair - produces a reaction in John that speaks to the legacy of their history, but not to her. Indeed, we learn more about Julie in her brief, poetic memory of the smell of her mother's hair, than we do in all her extremes and provocations."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...Your eyes can't help but remain glued to the lithe, powerful, oft-bared bodies of Mies Julie's two stars, Hilda Cronje in the Afrikaner title role and Bongile Mantsai as John, the Xhosa servant who finally succumbs to her rich-girl advances. Though they each break only briefly and jarringly into dance, we can see from the moment Cronje and Mantsai enter from the back of house that they both know how to move. I wondered why Farber used this considerable asset so sparingly. It's not as if her tone is naturalistic otherwise. Indeed, it's rococo, when it isn't full-on loco."
Washington Times - Highly Recommended
"...The audience was left breathless by the depth and breadth of the play and its underlying conflicts leading up to and including its final, bloody climax. STC's production of Mies Julie rates a well-deserved 4 stars for the quality of the acting as well as for the sheer, raw intensity that this 90 minute one-act play delivers."
Washingtonian - Highly Recommended
"...Mies Julie, currently playing in its Washington premiere at Shakespeare Theatre, packs so much heat, longing, conflict, and cruelty into its brief 90-minute running time that it's a miracle the stage doesn't implode under the weight of all that energy. Written and directed by Yael Farber (and feted nonstop since it debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012), the production by Cape Town's Baxter Theatre Center and the South African State Theatre takes August Strindberg's Miss Julie and pokes it with a cattle prod until it's raw, leaving a festering brew of hate, heritage, desire, and shame in its wake."
ShowBizRadio - Highly Recommended
"...How do you describe a play that is ferocious about deep, excruciating pain and yet is beautifully constructed, acted and presented. How do you describe a production that means to challenge and provoke?"
MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"...One of the best things about DC theatre is when we get a chance to host a theatre company from another part of the world. Shakespeare Theatre Company is doing just that, as the South African State Theatre's potent and brilliant production of Mies Julie is now playing at STC's Lansburgh Theatre as part of their North American tour."
DCTheatreScene - Recommended
Yael Farber’s Mies Julie, an unflinching adaptation of the Victorian shocker Miss Julie, clenches you tightly and doesn’t let go during its 90-minutes of fever-dream performance art staged at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre.
