Review: The Maids, Jermyn Street Theatre
[review]
Annie Kershaw’s production of Jean Genet’s Les Bonnes’ (The Maids) (a co-production with Reading Rep), keeps you guessing, playing with expectations whilst maintaining a natural feel. Genet’s play is inspired by the Papin sisters, maids, who brutally murdered their mistress and her daughter in 1933. Martin Crimp’s translation is accompanied by Kershaw’s eye for detail, alongside strong performances throughout.
A self-absorbed, sharp-tongued mistress, wrapped in a silk dressing gown, hurls orders and insults at her maid, whilst obsessively checking her reflection. It soon becomes clear that this opening scene is a deception. Sisters, Claire (Charlie Oscar) and Solange (Anna Popplewell), routinely take turns dressing as their Mistress (Carla Harrison-Hodge) to act out their fantasies of confronting and then killing her (this iteration ending with strangulation). What began as a game has now turned into a plan.
The set (designed by Cat Fuller) is a dressing room with white cushioned walls – comparable to a padded cell – with a dressing table and mirror, a rotary telephone, vases of dried flowers scattered on every surface and a large window (also doubling as a mirror, used creatively throughout). The Mistress’s dress and coat are hung on hooks fixed to the walls; visual reminders of the sisters’ dress-up game and murder plot. Lighting design (Catja Hamilton) offers some wonderful imagery and symbolism (during a monologue delivered by Popplewell in which she speaks of burning the house down, orange, flame-like flecks dance across her face and body). Jermyn Street’s studio theatre is utilised well here, the small space contributing nicely to the rising tension onstage.
As with most of Genet’s work, otherness, power and illusion are key themes. Fantasy and reality mingle as the sisters’ resentment turns toward each other. The feeling of being on unsteady ground is strong, as the maids edge closer to realising their plans and in turn, their long awaited escape. Claire has fabricated letters, framing their Mistress’s lover for theft, resulting in his arrest. The Mistress saunters in, the tension palpable as she relishes the power she holds. Harrison-Hodge excels in this role, switching in an instant from warm to cruel; an arrogant airhead, yet dangerous. Small details of the Mistress’s characteristics, set up in the opening scene during Claire’s heightened performance, pay off here. As Claire fetches a camomile tea (humorously pronounced incorrectly by the Mistress) laced with poison, she preens in the mirrors and laments on her lover’s arrest. Solange maintains her cool exterior, although there are glimpses of the ever-growing hatred and impatience within her, which soon become her undoing (as well as Claire’s). Popplewell executes this inner unrest very well.
Although well-acted, the later scenes and shifts between drama and comedy are slightly disjointed, and despite creative efforts to say something new about this play, it feels a little outdated. That said, Kershaw is a talented director with clear vision, skilled at creating striking images and seeking out finer details with text. The sisters’ shared scenes are highlights of this production; Oscar’s grounded, layered performance complements Popplewell’s complex Solange, creating a believable sisterly relationship that carries this show.
Written by: Jean Genet
Translated by: Martin Crimp
Directed by: Annie Kershaw
Movement and Intimacy direction by: Adi Gortler
Set and Costume design by: Cat Fuller
Lighting design by: Catja Hamilton
Composer and Sound Design by: Joe Dines
The Maids plays at Jermyn Street Theatre until 22nd January, transferring to Reading Rep Theatre from 28th January – 8th February. Further information and booking are available here.