JOIN USSwitching roles with ease
On the second day of the Deccan Herald Theatre Festival, ‘The Maids’, a play written by Jean Genet, was staged at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall.
Presented by ‘Theatre Nisha’, the play was directed by V Balakrishnan. The performances of the actors enthralled the audience.
The plot deals with two housemaids, Solange and Claire, who construct elaborate sadomasochistic rituals when their ‘madame’ (mistress) is away.
Genet has loosely based his play on the infamous Papin sisters, Lea and Christine, who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in France in 1933, although the play is not the story of the Papin sisters as such.
The play begins with a scene in which Claire acts as if she is ‘madame’ and Solange obeys her orders as Claire. The maid sisters get pleasure in their role-playing and are planning to murder their ‘madame’. But all the time, they fail to actualise their fantasies of ‘killing’ ‘madame’ ceremoniously at the ritual’s denouement.
When her maids were indulging in such activities, ‘madame’ stays in her own world, fantasising about eloping with her monsieur, who is a criminal. Most of the scenes in the play are illusions created by Claire and Solange as a way to combat their oppressive circumstances. They feel ashamed and dirty because of their poverty.
They do elaborate role-plays in which Claire fulfils her dreams of wealth and prestige by playing the haughty ‘madame’ and Solange satisfies her desire to prove herself worthy as a maid by beating down ‘madame’.
They employ cutting insults and even resort to physical violence in their ‘ceremony’, the most cherished time of their day. Both sisters are also confused about their reality — Claire several times refers to Solange as ‘Claire’. Solange too hurts Claire.
Claire, as ‘madame’, feels elevated above her real position as a maid and Solange cuts the fake ‘madame’ down to size. Finally, both Claire and Solange realise that they are slaves and that any victory for ‘madame’ is a defeat for them.
Both sisters repeatedly criticise themselves as much as they deplore ‘madame’. The play ends with Solange’s monologue, where she plays and addresses a dizzying array of characters. Sunandha Raghunathan and V Balakrishnan got huge appreciation from the crowd for their characters as Claire and Solange respectively. Varun Aiyer played the role of ‘madame’.
“The actors were extremely talented. The characters of Claire and Solange were quick in switching characters. They succeeded to bring out the essence of Genet’s work. I felt Solange’s final monologue was very effective,” said Radha, a member of the audience.