True-crime meets farcical fancy
Tucked away in the West End, Jermyn Street is an intimate 70-seat studio theatre, perfect for staging daring and exciting pieces of work. This fresh take on the scandalous 1947 play by Jean Genet was translated into English by Martin Crimp and debuted in 1999. Revived in co-production with Reading Rep by director Annie Kershaw, The Maids is an exploration of class warfare with a fanciful twist. Annie Kershaw is amongst a new generation of directors and has come through Jermyn Street Theatre’s Carne Deputy Director Scheme in addition to winning the The Young Vic’s Genesis Future Directors Award – definitely one to watch and that I’ll be looking out for in future programmes.
Loosely based on a 1933 case of two maids brutally murdering their violent mistress and her daughter, The Maids follows an evening in the life of two live-in servants, Solange and Claire. These sisters are played beautifully by Anna Popplewell and Charlie Oscar, capturing the souls of working class characters never given the chance to live life outside the walls of the aristocratic apartment where they serve.
Beginning with a fantasy, the sisters act out their visceral dreams to be both be and murder their cruel mistress. Oscar stuns with her powerful presence as Claire, impressively transforming from the Mistress back into a bedraggled servant. We see Claire’s internal struggles unfolding before us, she is brave enough to secure secret information from the household that will send the Master to jail, but becomes easily and instantly overwhelmed by the hopelessness of her situation.
Carla Harrison-Hodge injects some much-needed humour into the piece, stealing the show with her excellent portrayal of the manipulative Mistress. Dipping into perfectly timed farce, Harrison-Hodge is both charming and sickening, the ideal third player in this fantasy scene.
Stagecraft is sublime with lighting by Catja Hamilton illuminating some fabulous jump scares and subtle score by Joe Dines creating an ominous atmosphere. The padded walls of Cat Fuller’s stark white dressing room set evoke the feel of a psych ward cell, perhaps foreshadowing the future of our murderous maids and certainly representing how trapped they feel in the present.
Running at 90-minutes straight through, this play feels like it’s over before it’s begun. Kershaw has directed the two and three-hander scenes at a perfect pace, keeping us totally enthralled for the first 3/4’s of the play. However, the inclusion of some lengthy monologues that stray into the realms of heightened magical realism bring the pacing to a screeching halt, giving the play a disappointingly anti-climactic finale. Despite this, the production is mesmerisingly slick, with an onstage kitchen timer keeping everyone on edge as the clock ticks away. A thrilling revival with a stellar cast, Kershaw has directed a truly exciting production.