The Maids
The Maids
By Jean Genet
Directed by Christine Robison
Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando, FL</strong>
In French existentialism as in quantum cryptography, individual choice means nothing and whatever happens occurs with no significance beyond the moment. The Mistress (Jamie-Lyn Hawkins) rescues a pair of sisters from some disaster, most likely The War. Solange (Marion C. Marsh) and Claire (Mia Reeves) serve as maids, and when the mistress is out, they play act dominance and submission scenes from her life. The Mistress is both generous and condescending; she offers gifts and withdraws them, while the sisters are obsequious and bitter. A man appears in The Mistresses life, the sisters take steps, and things go badly. And true to the French way, when things go badly, you can always take the easy way out, and let the staff clean up the mess later.
As incestuous lesbian domination dramas go, this is one of the best. Solange struts around in her Dr Frankenfurter bustier and waves here arms flamboyantly on a claustrophobics and futzy set while the nearly dissolute Mistress hones here nails and ennui. But it’s Claire that knows how to wield the riding crop – the others give it the old college try, but only Claire can get Solange on her knees and anywhere else she desires. There are squicky moments here, Claire gropes The Mistress who smiles and acts like she only adjusting her dress, and the servants mime a rape scene, but neither seems to enjoy it. It’s not the sex that’s bothersome but the violation of the incest taboo, and the even more shocking violation of the class taboo.
Challenge lurks in every corner – challenges for the cast, for the audience, and to our preconceptions of the social order. I was grilled by several Mad Cow staff as to the meaning of this show, but all I can do is sadly shake my head, and look upon it as the wreckage of Europe’s moral and intellectual self-esteem in the aftermath of a calamity. When you sweep away the old order and fail to provide a better new order, don’t be shocked by the Communists, the New Agers, or the Tea Party. They’re all just people groping for meaning and bosoms in this bubble of oxygen lost in a pointless void.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com </em>
