LADY JULIA, by Strindberg, translated & adapted by James & Ben Kenward
In The Lamp Light Theatre Company
Hen & Chickens Theatre, London, December 2009
Gabriella Santinelli’s direction is taut, intelligent and highly focused. Intense and demanding though the action is, Ms Santinelli encourages the actors to re-examine their characters and movements for each performance. Though there are obvious dangers with this approach, the edginess that it creates suits the piece perfectly, and allows the actors the freedom to continually work new dimensions into it.
~ Peter Brown, London Theatre Guide – Online, 2 Dec 2009
Lady Julia is an enjoyable production which preserves a lot of the strength of true fringe theatre. It is an intimate experience, played with freshness by all concerned. And it has a great moment mid-way with a brief dance interlude…a bit of a triumph from director Gabriella Santinelli.
~ Michael Spring, Fringe Report, 9 Dec 2009
The events of Lady Julia take place entirely within a kitchen, and the play’s director, Gabriella Santinelli, makes good use of the small set to develop a sense of claustrophobia. The cast push off the furniture and against the walls, each of them, in their own way, trapped by social hierarchies. As a counter to this, Santinelli has encouraged the actors to move around the stage as they feel fit for each evening of the run. This freedom draws raw and emotional performances from the cast.
~ Alex Goodman, remotegoat, 14 Dec 2009
Yet where this performance makes a stand against other productions currently doing the circuit in the land of Fringe Theatre is that Lady Julia has been minimally directed, blocking has been left to that of the actors, and only entrances and exits are defined by Gabriella Santinelli as director. The outcome in Lady Julia is a piece that explores the relationship between the characters with electric tension and atmosphere…It is clear that Lady Julia is a complex piece, working on a series of multiple layers. With Santinelli driving a character-based analysis, instead of direction of movement, she creates an exciting and bold approach to a text driven performance.
~ Jake Orr, A Younger Theatre, 4 Dec 2009