Strindberg for the 21st century in the Minerva

A co-production with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly, the play runs from Friday, May 3-Saturday, June 1, offering a wild party, a friendship, a cherished pet and a night that changes everything.

“Strictly speaking everything we need is in the play,” Josh says. “We're not trying to regurgitate the original. However just to satisfy curiosity I did go back to the original Strindberg just to see what the parallels were between the plays. I hadn't read it before, to be honest, and what really struck me was the preface that Strindberg wrote, that it was very much of its time, that it was at the height of naturalism and that's how it needed to be performed... which I found quite amusing because it didn't read to me like it was a very naturalistic play. But maybe our understanding of naturalism now is guided by films. But actually it seemed to me quite over the top but I did really enjoy it.”

Josh is playing Jon, the equivalent of Jean in the original. In this version, it’s Julie’s 18th birthday, and she’s throwing a party in her father’s extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and her long-suffering best friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend Jon – son of Julie’s cleaner – clear up and dare to dream of the future.

“In our version he went to school with the other characters and he is in a relationship with Christine, a very loving relationship with her but they are kids. They are very young but there is a real connection there. But he’s a working class lad from Liverpool. He now lives in London with his mum who used to clean for Julie's father. There are themes of class and the class divide that have been sustained through the years.”

Josh is loving the writing: “That's why I was drawn to it. I love Laura's work. She is so sensitive to the external circumstances that affect the characters and in Jon's case it's his class. He is bit of an outsider and she gives him enough justification for feeling a certain amount of animosity towards the people that have money. But she also allows him to be human. Laura is incredibly empathetic and understanding of social issues but she allows her characters to be messy. And he is. In fact, they all are.

“Quite naively I didn't really pick up on how intense this piece was going to be. When I read the script I was just swept along with it and then when we got into the room, we started learning that it really has to be very muscular, the whole thing, that it really needs to be quite vigorous. But it is also fun. You want to do something that stretches you. I think those that are familiar with the original Strindberg might not be surprised by the tone. There are laughs and there are moments of humour but it really does go to some dark places.”

Josh’s television includes Say Nothing, The Responder, The Gentlemen, Baby Reindeer and Guerrilla.