The Maids by Jean Genet.
Translated by Martin Crimp.Directed by Caroline Stacey. Set
and costume design Kathleen Kershaw. Sound design Kimmo Vennonen. Lighting
design Neil Simpson. Street Two. The Street Theatre. A Street produced
professional theatre production. May 24- June 7 2025. Bookings 62471223.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Sophia Marzano as Claire. Christina Falsone as Solange in The Maids |
Kathleen Kershaw’s luscious
design for The Street Theatre’s production of Jean Genet’s The Maids evokes a taste of kitsch boudoir with a hint of salon
bordello. It is the Mistress’s bedroom , exuding an air of elegance, style and
luxury. The Mistress’s maids, Claire (Sophia Marzano) and Solange (Christina
Falsone) play out the shifting fantasy
and reality of the relationship between the mistress and her maids. By setting
the production in the Street Theatre’s intimate and confined Street Two,
director Caroline Stacey has created an atmosphere that is darkly compelling
and intriguingly mesmerising as the two sisters role play their relationship
with the Mistress during her absence. The intensity is visceral as status veers
between wealth and privilege and subjugation and servility. The two sisters
interchange roles wielding power and disdain in the role of the mistress or
fawning obsequiousness as the oppressed housemaid. It is when the Mistress (Natasha Vickery) returns that
Genet’s play takes a sinister turn and the maids’ motive is revealed.
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| Natasha Vickery as The Mistress |
Martin Crimp’s translation is fiercely
charged. Twists and turns in the relationships ricochet with envy and
adulation, love and loathing as Genet’s psychological thriller hurtles towards
a shock ending punctuated by Kimmo Vennonen’s startling sound design and Neil
Simpson’s lighting design. Stacey’s production is a flawless realization of
Genet’s attack on the class system, social prejudice and inequality. Born
illegitimate, sent to prison at 15 for not having a ticket on a train and
subsequently to many other prisons for theft
and railing against French bureaucracy and sexual intolerance, Genet
gave voice to the outcast. Inspired by the 1933 murder of a mistress and her
daughter by two sisters in her employ, Genet probes the reality and fantasy of
motive in
The Maids.
Stacey’s casting is impeccable.
At the moment of entry as we watch Marzano dancing into the bedroom, we are
captivated by the young woman assuming at the makeup table the manner of the
Mistress and playing out control and superiority in the Mistress’s red dress.
Falsone appears the older sister, more serious and concerned with the politics
of oppression.
Marzono’s youthful foil
is brilliantly contrasted by Falsone’s constrained servant. The exaggerated
stylization of Marzano’s Mistress offers a striking contrast in status to
Falsone’s Solange, who ironically assumes control over the situation as the
play progresses to its climax. Director Stacey has drawn out perfectly
contrasted impressions of the younger, more impetuous sister and her more
serious and driven sibling.
As the Mistress, Vickery presents
a performance of neurotic eccentricity. Besotted with obsessive devotion for
her framed lover, Vickery ‘s Mistress is an electrifying manifestation of the
privileged class, utterly impervious to the humiliating role of the servant. Under
Stacey’s direction Vickery cleverly plays the scene of her return as a recap of
the absurdity of the ritual and the suspicious behaviour of the maids in her
absence.
Stacey and her excellent cast and
creatives have successfully staged a production that draws you in and compels
you to listen. At times bewildering, it is constantly intriguing, challenging
the intellect and probing the nature of human behaviour. The Maids probes an existential dilemma. What power do individuals
have to exercise free will? Claire and Solange enact it through the ritual of
role play, but free will comes at a heavy price in Martin Crimp’s translation
of Genet’s reverberating work.
Stacey’s production is a vitally
important event on Canberra’s theatre scene. Skilfully orchestrated direction,
evocative design elements and superb performances from Vickery, Falsone and
Marzono make this not only a rare opportunity to visit Genet’s classic play. It
is
also a night at the theatre that is
totally absorbing, intellectually provocative and entertaining. Don’t miss it.!
