A visually stylish The Maids that captures Genet’s obsession with image, but loses the dark tension that makes his play truly unsettling.Rating
Good
Jean Genet’s The Maids is a disturbing psychological drama exploring class resentment, identity, and the blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality. First performed in 1947, it follows two sisters, Solange (Lydia Wilson) and Claire (Phia Saban), who serve an oppressive mistress. In her absence, they engage in elaborate role-plays—alternating between their own identities and impersonating Madame (Yerin Ha) —in a ritual combining devotion, hatred, and the desire for liberation. This adaptation, directed and adapted by Kip Williams, places Genet’s twisted world in the digital age, making the play’s themes of power, envy, and identity, feel hauntingly relevant.
The set design by Rosanna Vize immediately captivates, with a glossy, mirror-filled room that evokes the narcissism and self-scrutiny central to the characters’ lives. The stage is adorned with pink roses and peonies, their delicate beauty contrasting with the cold, translucent white curtains enclosing the space. When these curtains part, they reveal not a sanctuary, but a suffocating chamber of obsession and deceit.
Williams updates Genet’s world to a modern, Gen Z aesthetic, infused with contemporary slang, Snapchat filters, and curated artificiality. This choice reflects the emptiness of the maids’ exchanges, mirroring the digital generation’s obsession with image over substance.
However, while visually striking, the performance struggles to maintain dramatic tension. The opening sequence—a relentless volley of dialogue between Solange and Claire—feels ritualistic but lacks urgency. If Madame’s return is imminent, the sisters’ languid attitude makes that threat hard to believe. Their servitude never feels convincing, and one wonders how they’ve kept their jobs at all.
The dialogue’s repetitive rhythm, so central to Genet’s script, becomes numbing rather than hypnotic. Without variation in tone or pacing, the production’s emotional depth flattens into monotony. What should feel like a dangerous psychological dance, instead feels paper-thin, a loop without escalation.
This adaptation also bears the influence of Williams’ previous work on The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which similarly explored themes of vanity and external beauty. While this approach lends the production a provocative, visually dynamic edge, it occasionally distracts from the raw psychological complexity that should underpin The Maids.
Despite the flaws, I believe that The Maids is still worth seeing, if only to form your own opinion. The cast delivers dense dialogue with impressive precision. Their performances show significant skill, though they feel somewhat constrained by a direction that prioritizes form and provocation over emotional depth. The potential of these actresses is evident, but it is not fully realized.
In the end, The Maids dazzles with surface beauty but misses the sinister pulse of Genet’s original. Beneath the mirrors and filters, we see reflections without shadows—style without substance.
Written by: Jean Genet
Directed and adapted by: Kip Williams
Cast: Yerin Ha, Lydia Wilson and Phia Saban
Set Design by: Rosanna Vize
Costume Design by: Marg Horwell
Light Design by: Jon Clark
The Maids plays at Donmar Warehouse until Saturday 29 November.
