If watching beautiful women leaping around in their underwear appeals to you, you will enjoy the latest production of The Maids, starring Cate Blanchett, French screen legend Isabelle Huppert and Elizabeth Debicki.
The Sydney Theatre Company says:
Sibling rivalry, class envy and high fashion: a combustible combination in this short, sharp reworking of French bad boy of letters Jean Genet’s 1947 play.
There’s lots of undressing, dressing-up, dressing down and serious foul language in this play. The two maids are extremely fed up with their mistress and plot to kill her. The action is confined to the boudoir, the stage featuring a rear wall covered by one long dress rail filled with dresses arranged by colour and their matching shoes below.
The action is slowed by long passages of ranting. Huppert’s strong French accent sometimes blurs the words, but you get the general idea.
There is a good gimmick – video cameras capture closeup moments and show them on a huge screen above the stage. There’s a neat GoPro camera hidden on the dressing table that captures faces as they apply makeup and one above the bed catching the sprawling action.
An enjoyable theatre outing with wonderful performances, but Genet’s creation didn’t involve me as much as some of the other plays I’ve seen recently.
