Mister Brendan Healy | The Maids [2011]
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The Maids [2011]

By Jean Genet, Buddies in Bad Times

1933. French police find Madame Lancelin and her daughter face down, in their living room, mutilated. Upstairs, two maids are found naked, huddled together in one of two single beds. Their motive: self-defense against an abusive mistress. This true story was the inspiration for queer iconoclast Jean Genet’s masterpiece. A powerful statement against servitude, this psychosexual thriller is a brutal excavation of the sickness that class structures create in the human psyche. In the play, two maids – Solange and Claire – ritually enact a sadomasochistic fantasy of dominance and submission. Unable to imagine a destiny other than a life of servitude the line between reality and fantasy progressively gets blurred for the maids, and the ritual inevitably ends in violence.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

    “Never anything less than utterly compelling.”


    - John Coulbourn, Toronto Star

  • 4 out of 5 N's

    "Spectacular performances."

    - Susan Cole, NOW Magazine

  • 4 out of 4 stars

    “Go see it for the work of director Brendan Healy.”

    - Robert Crew, Toronto Star

CREDITS

Written by Jean Genet
Translated by Martin Crimp
Directed by Brendan Healy
Starring: Diane D’Aquila, Ron Kennell and Maria Ricossa
Set and Costumes: Julie Fox
Lighting: Kim Purtell
Sound Composition: Richard Feren
Produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Production stills by Jeremy Mimnagh