Based on a Swedish classic, Mies Julie explores the very topical discussion point on land reform, land ownership and farming. Set on 27 April 2012 (Freedom Day, 18 years after the first democratic elections in South Africa); it explores the complexities of rural life in the new South Africa. As per the very recent farm worker protests; while everyone is supposed to be "free" - it is very clear that political freedom has not really translated to other freedoms.
And the lack of freedom is not only economic - but also the chains of history that has tied down a way of life; the baas-worker relationship that has tied down the haves and the not-haves; and the freedom to love constrained by racial and social pressures.
It starts of slowly; but it becomes a raw; highly charged emotional performance with an amazing dissection of the state of freedom in the new South Africa. And ultimately, the ending has its own message - that perhaps there is no amicable solution that everyone can live with. That, in itself is a worrying conclusion. And if no one tackles the storm head on - the protests of farm workers is only the begining of a much wider problem.
Mies Julie is on at the Market Theatre until 24 February 2013.
