All posts by Ryan Oakley

Miss Julie: Sheh'mah; KICK Theatre

By Ryan Oakley

To see KICK‘s production of “Miss Julie: Sheh’mah” – the adaptation of  Strindberg‘s play about sex between the upper and lower classes—  I wore a two thousand dollar suit, a five hundred dollar shirt and a pair of seven hundred dollar shoes.  My date wore jeans and a sweater: An ensemble that cost as much as my socks and much less than my tie.

Yet Shalome has money and no job, being a jet-setting creature of leisure and a blaxican American democrat, while I am, in everything except my politics and attire, decidedly working class.  Not to mention broke and white.

These things may seem irrelevant.  Yet it is precisely this blurring of social lines that makes it difficult to relate to an 1888 Swedish play about class.  Just how does one render “Miss Julie” relevant to the times and land we presently live in?   As radical as Strindberg’s play once was, it’s now in danger of becoming quaint.

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The Great Gatsby: The Classical Theatre Project

By Ryan Oakley

I didn’t expect much from Classical Theatre Project’s interpretation of “The Great Gatsby.” I only hoped for good-looking actors clothed in high style. My hopes were low and they were wrong. The costumes were merely adequate and I was irritated by the length of Gatsby’s jacket sleeves throughout. But the play was well-executed by both cast and crew. More importantly, it made the right choices.

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