The Maids

So I was sort of casting around for like what it is that I was going to do with the rest of my time.

And I asked them what they were working on and Lane had a production of The Maids that he was in the middle of doing.

So we just, we went to work on a scene from his, The Maids, like the whole cast was there, Lane was there.

And it was a productive working session.

You know, like I really respected what it is that Lane had accomplished with them.

But for something that was 70 minutes, it actually felt quite a bit longer.

Next up on the list is The Maids.

This just played at St. Anne's Warehouse after a transfer from the Donmar Warehouse.

This is a modern adaptation of the play by Jean Genet as adapted by Kip Williams.

You remember that he did the picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook.

And the maids, if you don't know, it's about a 90-year-old play at this point, almost 100.

About two maids, Claire and Solange, who are sisters, who work for a woman only known as Madame.

And they both idolize Madame and hate Madame.

... comic books, and 50s rock and roll, and just hurling them all together, um, m- with a, you know, some fishnet tights thrown in.

And the fishnet tights really, you know, came from a brilliant, uh, costume designer called Sue Blane, who I'd worked with before actually, um, in a, a, a wonderful theater in Scotland called the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, where we did a, a production of The Maids where I wore exactly that corset, which we bought for three-

The, the Jean Genet play?

Yeah, the Jean Genet play.

So, you know, it was wonderful.

And at the time, I think I was particularly obsessed with Jean Genet and his play Les Bonnes, uh, The Maids in English, and I thought it was brilliant.

The role play and the power shifts, the way desire and cruelty can become almost impossible to separate.

And so I remember giving a presentation in class and I was so excited by my analysis that I honestly don't think I've ever spoken French as well before or since.