Director Annie Kershaw gave us a queer Hedda Gabler in 2023 at the Reading Rep; now, in another quirky textual reinterpretation, she has directed a version of Jean Genet’s The Maids that reads the absurdist play as an investigation into mental illness and sisterly affection.
Best described as a perverse game of dress-up, Jean Genet’s 1947 play concerns two maidservant sisters, Solange (Anna Popplewell) and Claire (Charlie Oscar), who ritualistically imitate the behaviour of their abusive employer, the Mistress (Carla Harrison-Hodge), when she is out of the house. The quasi-religious ‘ceremony’, to use the sisters’ preferred term for it, offers cathartic release for their suppressed fury and allows them to overturn, if only briefly, the oppressive power dynamics that render their existences unbearable.
Jermyn Street Theatre’s compact stage brilliantly amplifies this pervasive feeling of psychological containment. Cat Fuller’s set design eschews the antique furniture-laden boudoir full of flowers that Genet’s text specifies and presents us instead with a white padded cell from a psychiatric ward. While we may miss the overbearing glamour of more traditional stagings and the social power it symbolises, Fuller’s set choice keeps us cognisant that Kershaw’s focus is the fragile mental state of the maids. This is reinforced by Catja Hamilton’s lighting, which alternates between the strident white lights of an asylum and soft orange hues conveying unexpressed internal anguish.
Naturalism is also the keynote for the acting. Popplewell and Oscar present a compelling sisterly relationship that is tender but troubled. They blame and abuse each other for their miserable circumstances – simply looking at the other sister results in outbursts of self-loathing, forcing them to bear witness to the mirror image of their own servitude. But it is furious affection that underwrites their actions, as evidenced in the moving scene where Popplewell protectively cradles Oscar and invites her to dream away her suffering. These actors both deliver sharp and intricate performances that superbly individuate the maids and their varying psychological responses to subordination.
Much-needed humour is injected into the piece by the captivating presence of Carla Harrison-Hodge. In the role of the Mistress, she is as light and fizzy as a glass of champagne. She exists on another plane of reality, where all that matters is narcissism and the next dress. “I’m giving up clothes,” she vows, before ironically looking in the mirror and preening herself once more. It’s a brilliant piece of character acting, showing the caprice of the privileged and the smiles that barely conceal resentment.
Martin Crimp’s exquisite translation of Genet’s script breathes into the production a dark and menacing beauty. Insults are wrapped in unashamedly sensuous lyricism and delivered with alliterative flourish. “Do you imagine it’s pleasant for me to know that my foot has been dipped in a lake of your salvia? Steeped in your stagnant waters?” asks Claire dolled-up and aping the Mistress. And at another moment, Solange, parodying Macbeth – the arch hierarchical usurper – wails, “she should have died hereafter … strangled by a pair of rubber gloves”. This effectively adds to the production’s aura of hysteria and uneasy humour but occasionally jars with the naturalistic direction as it places the play’s absurdism on full show. The writing’s electric erotic charge is unfortunately missed by Kershaw; there are lines that contain more than a hint of sexual roleplay that remain unexploited in this production.
The Maids at Jermyn Street Theatre successfully shares in Genet’s mission to create sympathy for outcasts and explores the psychology of oppression. By wrenching the play away from its absurdist roots, Kershaw’s production achieves uncommon intimacy with its audience and powerfully communicates psychological truths. It may go against Genet’s desire for these maids to serve as allusive symbols; indeed, he warned against overly literal interpretations noting, “I suppose there is a union for domestic workers – that’s not our concern.” Nevertheless, it cleverly turns this masterpiece on its head and makes it more accessible to modern audiences.
Written by Jean Genet
Translated by Martin Crimp
Director: Annie Kershaw
Photo credits: Steve Gregson
Cast includes: Anna Popplewell; Charlie Oscar; Carla Harrison-Hodge.
Until: Wednesday 22nd January at Jermyn Street Theatre, before transferring to Reading Rep from 28th January to 8th February 2025.
Running Time: 1 hours and 30 minutes with no interval