The Maids

by Jean Genet

Translation: Valentin Marinov – Pelo

Director: Kris Sharkov

Set and Costume Design: Nikol Trendafilova

Music: Emiliyan Gatsov – Elbi

Cast: Velina Georgieva, Sofia Dzhustrova, Emona Ilieva

Photography: Aleksandar Stanishev

Poster Design: Nikol Sultanova

The Maids is the best-known play by the French writer and playwright Jean Genet. The story of two maids who plan to murder their mistress is inspired by the real-life story of the Papin sisters, and continues to captivate audiences to this day—on the one hand through its gripping crime plot, and on the other through its insights into human nature and its need for the perpetual game of victim and aggressor.

This seems to be a central theme in our society—the feeling that we live in perpetual submission and in a perpetual search for an enemy who, paradoxically, gives meaning to our existence. Another important and highly relevant theme in the play is the crisis of identity. Every identity and reality the maids assume in their games with one another is equally true, and this is precisely the predicament of modern humanity. It seems there is no memory of an authentic reality; instead, everything is a series of secondary realities, without any axis of identity.

These themes are placed within an artistic game drawn from the distinctive world of Jean Genet.

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