Like much of his work, Jean Genet wrote Les bonnes, the original title of Les criades [The Maids], in prison. It premièred in Paris, a few years after the end of World War II, and no, it was not a success as both the public and critics rejected it from the beginning. Few imagined that the story of Claire and Solange Lemercier, housemaids of a woman from the haute bourgeoisie, would become an essential piece of twentieth-century theatre. In the play, both (Ana Torrent and Alicia Borrachero) star in a perverse nightly role-playing ritual during which one plays the character of their mistress (Madame) and the other, that of her companion. They exchange identities alternately, perhaps for lack of an identity of their own or perhaps because each of them has a bit of all the others, the companion and the mistress, and could not exist independently. They are alienated beings and live between hatred and anger, even though they are neither good nor bad, but goodness and evil form equal parts of their personalities that will lead them to a tragic outcome. Luis Luque, a director who trained with Miguel Narros and who has often collaborated, as in this case, with the playwright Paco Bezerra, stages the tale on a stage that is completely white. This immaculate white perhaps represents the disease of the bourgeoisie, a space soaked in a suffocating light that condemns the protagonists to a sickly and maddening atmosphere. Or perhaps it is the counterpoint to the sinister ritual that these servants condemned to unhappiness resume every night. Two great actresses play the leading roles of the maids, while an actor, Jorge Calvo, takes on the role of Madame, a nod to the transgressive universe of Genet and to the role played by the concept of "identity" in this staging. Is Madame really like this or is it just the way she is seen by these maids who take turns imitating her? Social class, identity, what we would like to be, but are not... This production talks to us of all this, an essential piece of contemporary theatre that now comes to us from the hands of Luis Luque, deputy artistic director of the Teatro Español in Madrid and the Naves del Español in Matadero who has staged works ranging from Gogol’s Diario de un loco (2013) to Jean Racine’s Alejandro Magno (2016) to Eugène Ionesco’s La cantante calva (2017), etc.
A co-production from Pentación Espectáculos and Teatro Español.
Wednesday June 30, premiere.
Author: Jean Genet Version and translation: Paco Bezerra Director: Luis Luque Performed by: Ana Torrent, Alicia Borrachero, Jorge Calvo Staging: Monica Boromello Costumes: Almudena Rodríguez Lighting: Felipe Ramos Original music: Luis Miguel Cobo Video: Bruno Praena Produced by: Jesús Cimarro Assistant director: Pablo Martínez Photography: Jesús Ugalde
