Written by French novelist Jean Genet, “The Maids” was first performed back in 1947 at Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris. The play is very loosely based on the infamous sisters Christine and Léa Papin, who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in Le Mans, France in 1933. In many productions of “The Maids” young men are cast as the two sisters – this is said to originate from a previous Genet novel, “Our Lady Of The Flowers”, where a character muses that if he had written a play for women he would cast adolescent boys.
The setting for this evening’s performance is the wonderful theatre at HOME in Manchester. The stage has been completely re-purposed for this show and the visual effects are excellent – long cocktail dresses hung up waiting to be worn, flowers around the floor held in place like darts and a winding staircase that leads up to a balcony that stretches the whole width of the stage.
Prior to tonight’s performance and as some of the audience were still arriving, we were joined by three actors dressed in prison overalls and stockings over their faces. Their presence was a little unclear but they were intent on causing mischief amongst the front seated members as they stole coats and bags before returning them, or made light fun of people with some mimed gestures. The actors turned out to be the cast as this started our performance, although their antics seemed to have very little connection to the play.
The story of “The Maids” concerns sisters Solange (Luke Mullins) and Claire (Jake Fairbrother) who are the seemingly loyal maids looking after their Mistress (Danny Lee Wynter). They keep the house clean and tidy, they prepare the dresses for the Mistress to wear and neatly arrange flowers but they have a dark and sinister pastime when their Mistress is away from the house – they act out elaborate fantasies where they attempt to murder their employer.
There is clear conflict between Claire and Solange which comes across all the way through the play, at times both are the dominant sister who is bullying the other and both are equally the emotional subservient sister who simply wants to be loved by the other. The on-stage chemistry between Mullins and Fairbrother is breathtaking and both deliver perfect representations of their characters – I cannot praise highly enough their performances.
The Mistress is an interesting character as the dominant employer who has many demands of her maids; whether it is her specially prepared Chamomile Tea or an item of clothing that she plans to wear or simply the groveling respect that feeds her massive ego. The Mistress is however very clearly a vulnerable character and shares many of the same traits as her servants – craving attention and a desire to be loved.
There is reference made to The Master of the house who has recently been incarcerated but we never actually get to meet him. His arrest the previous day was part of a master plan put in place by Solange and Claire to get their Mistress into the house on her own so they can turn their sordid fantasies into reality. Some letters sent to the police by Claire being the main evidence against him.
“The Maids” is a superbly written and brilliantly directed dark piece of theatre that had me enthralled for the full 95 minutes, but the plot is complex and the characters have long monologues that require the audience’s full attention at all times. It will leave some people a little confused and indeed my theatre companions this evening were perplexed by the end and admitted they were unsure how the story had concluded. If you are looking for some light entertainment then this is definitely not for you but if you want powerful, thought provoking complex drama then I would most definitely recommend a visit.
Reviewer - John Fish
on - 21/11/18
No comments:
Post a Comment