Review: THE MAIDS Misses the Mark at Mildred's Umbrella

We are in a world drenched in the feminine. Shelves are stocked with candy-colored clothes, accessories, and shoes. There is a glittery chandelier suspended above the room. A pink and orange rug hugs the floor and big pink flowers fill a vase next to a pillow-strewn divan. All that's missing is Madonna's "Material Girl" playing in the background and maybe a tiny dog named Princess.

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Created by Jodi Bobrovsky, these are the chambers of "Madame", Claire and Solange's employer. Claire and Solange are sisters employed by Madame, and like mice they're not above playing when the cat's away.

Except what looks like a game turns out to be a lot more disturbing.

In 1933, the Papin sisters, Christine and Lea, worked as chambermaids and violently killed their employer and her grown daughter, beating them to death and gouging out their eyes. The Papin sisters had had their share of hardship, including the breakdown of their family, a father accused of rape of a family member, and extremely dysfunctional ties between the two of them. Obviously there wasn't a lot of sanity to go around. Jean Genet was inspired to write THE MAIDS a mere 14 years after the true-life grizzly murder took place in France. Genet wanted to cast a spotlight on the injustices of the class system and incite revelation of what it means to be in a position of subservience.

The true story sounds far more interesting than the play is, and as the characters squabble back and forth, flitting in and out of role-playing, I found my mind wandering to the real story, wondering if the real people involved had more at stake than the characters in the play. Genet's own life seems more compelling than the play he wrote: deserted as a baby by his unwed mother, brought up in an orphanage, convicted of theft, prostitution, and pimping, and continued to spend time incarcerated for theft even after the success of his plays. What makes this guy tick? One wonders.

This is the problem: For a play that focuses on impending murder, there doesn't seem to be a lot on the line. Claire and Solange have a game they like to play when Madame is away in which they take turns acting out fantasies where one is the servant and the other Madame. This could go kinky really quickly, but in this production there is only a whisper of sexual charge to the performances and staging. It's more about feeling powerful; the sisters often quarrel about who gets to play Madame. The fun and games are put on pause when they receive a call explaining that the Madame's lover is out of jail and here is the kicker: the reason her lover was arrested at all was that Claire sent bogus letters to implicate him in a crime. This ups the ante for the sisters and it's not long before they're doing some serious plotting to murder Madame. Why? The "why" doesn't seem to matter as much as the mental health of the sisters. Instead of a strong plot, the growing insanity of the maids is the real focal point and it's really not enough to carry a show. Instead of being a symbolic, artistic piece of theatre it felt more like an aimless play.

Director Jon Harvey asks the question, "How does one deal with authority? How does one become dominant or submissive and then react to the joys and miseries associated with each?" An excellent question and an interesting topic, but the answer isn't clarified in THE MAIDS.

The acting isn't the problem. Patricia Duran is very good as Solange, the maid with more mettle than her sister. Duran is steely in her anger and tension and then almost queenly in her scene towards the end when she has the stage to herself. Courtney Lomelo shows her kittenish charm as Claire, strutting around in Madame's gowns, deferring to Solange when things get heated. Lomelo and Duran work well together, with an implicit trust that's a must to play these two characters.

Lindsay Ehrhardt is vapid but likable as Madame. Her performance in the show makes it even harder to understand why Claire and Solange are driven to kill her, or even why they mock her in their role-playing games. Perhaps Ehrhardt could've chosen a more detestable way to play the part, but the lines written do not suggest this.

The strongest part of the entire show is Solange's monologue. We get a glimpse of the psyche at work and the depth of Solange's mental collapse and Duran makes it real. There is a whisper of reason here- this character has been hurt acutely by someone in her life, perhaps over and over again. It's murky, but it at least seems tangible.

Genet was known for writing disturbing plays that highlighted injustices in the social hierarchy, but the injustices in the play seem non-existent. They are paid for their work, they have a place to live, and their employee is rather pleasant. Genet's words are often beautiful in THE MAIDS, almost flowery in the segments when the maids are role-playing, but it's not enough. What this play needs are some higher stakes and some core of explanation for the insanity.

Genet inexplicably wanted men to play the roles when he wrote the play. I can't imagine why that would improve the play in any way. Mildred's Umbrella is known for producing provocative plays that have great characters for women, but THE MAIDS skips a beat in their usually fulfilling fare.

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THE MAIDS continues through August 13. Performances are 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and August 8 (Pay What You Can Monday); and 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 7 at Spring Street Studios, Studio 101, 1824 Spring Street. For more information, please call 832-463-0409 or visit mildredsumbrella.com/maids.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Decker

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