
Miss Julie
August Strindberg · 1889
On Midsummer Eve, an aristocratic woman seduces her father's valet, and by dawn she has destroyed herself. Strindberg compressed a class war into ninety minutes and one room. He called it a naturalistic tragedy, but the sexual power dynamics feel uncomfortably modern. The play was banned in Sweden until 1906.
Drama · the Pro canon
The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.