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| Sophia Marzano (Claire) and Christina Falzone (Solonge) in "The Maids" |
Directed by Caroline Stacey –Designed by Kathleen Kershaw
Lighting design by Neil Simpson – Sound Design by
Kimmo Vennonen
The Street Theatre May 24 to June 8, 2025.
Performance on May 27
reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.
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| Sophia Marzano (Claire) - Christina Falsone (Solonge) in "The Maids" |
Jean Genet’s turgid homoerotic drama,"The Maids" written in 1947, and presented here in a 1999 translation by UK playwright
Martin Crimp, has long been a magnet for imaginative creatives and performers
drawn by the opportunities it offers to recreate and explore the world and
psychology of three alluringly extraordinary characters.
Loosely based on an
infamous real life murder trial involving two maids who brutally murdered their
employer and her daughters, Genet’s play focusses on sisters, Claire (Sophia
Marzano) and Solange (Christina Falsone) who spend their time when their
employer is absent, engaging in erotic fantasies playing among their employer’s belongings
and planning her murder.
The employer, simply identified as The Mistress, and
stunningly portrayed by Natasha Vickery, unbeknownst to the sisters, is aware of
their activities, even encourages them, using her power and position to torture
them with her own malicious mind games.
At this performance both Sophia Marzano and
Christina Falsone took some time to settle on the correct performance level to allow either the sisters’ role-play games or relationship to convince as authentic, although they did manage to pique the curiosity of the audience.
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| Natasha Vickery as The Mistress in The Street Theatre production of "The Maids" |
No such
problem for Natasha Vickery however, who from the moment she stepped onto the stage as
the drug-addled Mistress, offered a performance so pitch-perfect and dazzling
that the atmosphere immediately became electric and the play began to fly.
At
various times self-absorbed, vain, ruthless, kindly and vindictive, but always
completely believable, Vickery commanded the stage, ruthlessly manipulating the
sisters, so that the reasons that fueled their hatred of their employer quickly became obvious, even
though she was not the only reason for their behaviour.
Directed with her
customary flair and attention to detail, Caroline Stacey has staged this
production in a sumptuous setting designed by Kathleen Kershaw, beautifully
lit by Neil Simpson and complimented with an unsettling soundscape designed an
operated by Kimmo Vennonen.
Representing The Mistress’s bedroom, it is crammed
with gorgeous objects, furniture and fabrics which indicates The Mistress’s wealth
and position, and which she flaunts cruelly in front of her servants, teasing them by gifting them with hand-me-downs which she demands back should they displease her.
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| Sophia Marzano as Claire and Christina Falsone as Solonge in "The Maids" |
Responding to Vickery’s performance, both Marzano and Falsone eventually found
their groove, with Marzano hilarious as Claire desperately trying to persuade
The Mistress to drink the poisonous tea she had prepared, and Falsone as Solonge
suddenly becoming terrifying as she exchanges fantasy for malicious intent
towards her sister when their plans begin to turn awry.
When the play eventually
reaches its shattering climax, the audience is left with plenty to muse about
concerning the psychology and motives of Genet’s characters, but in no doubt that
it has experienced a memorable production of a compelling play.
Images by Nathan Smith Photography.
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au