Photo Flash: In Rehearsal with THE MAIDS

Check out rehearsal photos below for HOME's major new production of Jean Genet's The Maids, between Friday 16 November - Saturday 1 December 2018. Based on the true story of murderous duo The Papin sisters, Genet's infamous The Maids is a radical modern classic. Well ahead of its time, it explodes with contemporary ideas about class conflict, sexual identity, and political outcasts.

In the title roles at HOME are Jake Fairbrother as Claire and Luke Mullins at Solange. Jake's many theatre credits include The Lady From The Sea (Donmar Warehouse), Twelfth Night (Crucible Theatre), The Last Days of Troy (Globe Theatre and Royal Exchange Theatre), Macbeth (Cheek by Jowl), A Life of Galileo, The Orphan of Zhao and Boris Godunov (all Royal Shakespeare Company) and Hamlet (National Theatre). His films roles include Skyfall, Stratton, and Sandcastle, and on TV has appeared in NW and Holby City.

Luke's equally illustrious theatre roles in both the UK and Australia include Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (The Old Vic), Waiting For Godot (The Barbican), The Glass Menagerie (Belvoir St and Malthouse Theatres), Endgame (Melbourne Theatre Company) and Angels in America (Belvoir St). Television credits include New Blood (BBC) and Reef Doctors (Network Ten).

Danny Lee Wynter completes the cast in the role of Madame. His theatre credits include Cell Mates (Hampstead Theatre), Forty Years On (Chichester Festival), The Glass Menagerie (Nuffield, Southampton), Comus, Bedlam, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, King Lear, and The Front Line (all Shakespeare's Globe), and The Miser (The Royal Exchange). His TV credits include Walliams and Friends, The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth, Partners In Crime, Episodes, Mr Stink, Luther, Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary. Danny is also a Founder of The Act For Change Project which aims to strengthen diversity in the live and recorded arts.

HOME transforms its main house theatre for The Maids into the round for the first time. Building over the stalls seating area, the stage will be raised up to the height of the circle - and audiences will be able to watch from both on and off the stage in a specially built seating area.

Genet wrote The Maids in 1947 whilst serving a prison sentence, as an imaginative and intellectual escape. Premiering the same year, Genet's chilling tale follows the story of a pair of maids who create violent, darkly humorous fantasies while dressed in the opulent clothes of their mistress. Indulging in theatrical re-enactments of the power structures which define their lives, the line between make-believe and reality becomes increasingly distorted, as it becomes clear that the aim of the game is murder...

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