Jean Genet based his 1947 play, The Maids, on the real story of an infamous 1933 murder in Le Mans when an abusive mistress and her daughter were killed by their two maids. This co-production between Jermyn Street Theatre and Reading Rep, which transfers to Reading at the end of January, captures all of Genet's absurdist horror, but it wavers uneasily between the realistic and the mannered in its presentation of this narrative of brutal social stratification and existential alienation. Anna Popplewell as Solange, the elder sister in service, brings a nicely restrained menace to her characterisation, and Charlie Oscar as younger sister, Claire, does a fine job of alternating between vulnerability and volatility as the two participate in the ceremony of dressing up as their employer and acting out her murder. Carla Harrison-Hodge hits some humorous notes as the obtuse, self-absorbed mistress of the household, but it is a performance that borders on parody. It reflects the kind of indecisiveness that seems to be at the heart of this production. It is not sure if it is channeling the world of In Cold Blood or that of Waiting for Godot. We are uneasily between verisimilitude and imaginative archetype. Both the set and costumes also reflect this kind of confusion. The flowers which are often referred to as gladioli are not, nor are they real. Like the somewhat inappropriate and low-budget costumes, they neither hit a note of authenticity, nor do they engage the imagination. Jean-Paul Sartre saw Genet's favoured theme of socially downtrodden individuals retreating to a world of violent and erotic fantasy as a metaphor for the larger dilemma of the human condition. However, while this production grapples with those dark realities, it doesn't quite succeed in clicking as either a psychopathic true crime tale or a bleak exposure of our existential state.
Rated: ★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Steve Gregson
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