Jean Genet’s turgid homoerotic drama, The Maids, written in 1947, and presented here in a 1999 translation by UK playwright Martin Crimp, has long been a magnet for imaginative creatives and performers drawn by the opportunities it offers to recreate and explore the world and psychology of three alluringly extraordinary characters.
Loosely based on an infamous real life murder trial involving two maids who brutally murdered their employer and her daughters, Genet’s play focusses on sisters, Claire (Sophia Marzano) and Solange (Christina Falsone) who spend their time while their employer is absent, engaging in erotic fantasies among the employer’s belongings and planning her murder.
The employer, simply identified as The Mistress, and stunningly portrayed by Natasha Vickery, unbeknownst to the sisters, is aware of their activities, even encourages them, using her power and position to torture the sisters with her own mind games.
At this performance both Sophia Marzano and Christina Falsone took some time to find the correct performance level to allow the sisters’ role-play games or relationship to convince as authentic. However, they were successful enough to pique the curiosity of the audience.
No such problem for Natasha Vickery, who from the moment she stepped onto the stage as the drug-addled Mistress, offered a performance so pitch-perfect and dazzling that the atmosphere immediately became electric and the play began to fly.
At various times self-absorbed, vain, ruthless, kindly and vindictive, but always completely believable, Vickery commands the stage, ruthlessly manipulating the sisters, so that the reasons that fuel their hatred of her become obvious, even though she is not the only reason for their behaviour.
Directed with her customary flair and attention to detail, Caroline Stacey has staged this production in a sumptuous setting designed by Kathleen Kershaw, and beautifully lit by Neil Simpson and complimented with an unsettling soundscape designed and operated by Kimmo Vennonen.
Representing The Mistress’s bedroom, it is crammed with gorgeous objects, furniture and fabrics to indicate The Mistress’s wealth and position, which she flaunts cruelly in front of her servants, teasing them with hand-me-downs before demanding her gifts back, should they displease her.
Responding to Vickery’s performance, both Marzano and Falsone eventually found their groove, with Marzano hilarious as Claire desperately trying to persuade The Mistress to drink the poisonous tea she had prepared, and Falsone as Solonge suddenly becoming terrifying as she exchanges fantasy for malicious intent towards her sister as their plans begin to turn awry.
When the play eventually reaches its shattering climax, the audience is left with plenty to muse about concerning the psychology and motives of Genet’s characters, but in doubt that it has experienced a memorable production of a compelling play.
The Maids
The Street Theatre, Childers Street, Canberra City West
Performance: Wednesday 27 May 2025
Season continues to 8 June 2025
Information and Bookings: www.thestreet.org.au
Images: Sophia Marzano and Christina Falsone in The Maids – photo by Nathan Smith Photography | Natasha Vickery in The Maids – photo by Nathan Smith Photography
Review: Bill Stephens OAM