The Maids - Page 2
The Maids
Brick
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/06
#26The Maids
Posted: 8/15/14 at 11:12am
Saw 'The Maids' last night.
3 powerful performances for sure. I thought Hubbert was perfectly understandable, and her willingness/ability to lose herself in her character was extraordinary. As much as I enjoy watching Cate Blanchett--which is a LOT--I actually felt she was ACTING whereas Hubbert was BEING. In any case, I enjoyed both of their performances immensely. As others have said, Debicki is fine, as well.
I've neither seen nor read the show previously, so I have no frame of reference, but I'm inclined to think that the show would benefit from a smaller and more intimate venue, in which the words would be more fully the focus of the experience, rather than set design and lighting. The set design and lighting were excellent, mind you, I just think less might be more with this material.
I appreciate the thinking that went into the projections--Genet was writing about lives as performances, and the simultaneous filming speaks to that. In particular, I noticed (as Brantley mentioned in his review) that the close-ups make clear how much older the Maids are than the Mistress--the condescending, infantalizing effect of the maternal words she uses is vivid.
The way in which the Maids slip in an out of their private world with its rote script and its ill-contained malice reminded me powerfully of George and Martha.
There is something surreal about seeing this play with an overwhelmingly well-heeled, Owning-Class Manhattan audience. How many of them recognize themselves in the Mistress? If you were there last night and you heard one voice guffaw particularly loudly when Mistress says--in response to her self-described life-changing tragedy--"I'll redecorate!", that was me. How many times have I heard one of Them react in precisely that way? Brecht was wrong--sometimes Art IS a mirror.
You think, what do you want?
You think, make a decision...
Updated On: 8/15/14 at 11:12 AM
