Jean Genet’s ‘Maids’ Are Now Vaping and in Thrall to TikTok

One of the hottest tickets of the 2024-5 Broadway season was an adaptation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Australian director and writer Kip Williams. The production, first produced in his native country by Sydney Theatre Company and then a hit on the West End, showcased Mr. Williams’s cinematic, state-of-the-art approach, using multiple LED screens to assist “Succession” alumna Sarah Snook as she juggled 26 roles, earning Olivier and Tony Awards for her efforts.With his latest effort, a new version of Jean Genet’s “The Maids,” Mr. Williams adopts a similar strategy but uses three performers, each assigned one character, sort of. The 1947 play, inspired by a true crime, focuses on two sisters, Solange and Claire, working as domestic servants, who take turns impersonating their employer, each trying to humiliate the other in that guise. Their real end game is to murder the mistress of the house, referred to simply as Madame.Genet’s drama has been drawing A-list actresses for decades. In 2013, Sydney staged it with Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert respectively playing Claire and Solange and a young Elizabeth Debicki cast as Madame; that production, which was helmed by Benedict Andrews and also used video projections, arrived in New York the following year.Mr. Williams’s “Maids,” now at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse after an acclaimed run at London’s Donmar Warehouse, is even more aggressively contemporary, and not just because of how much digital technology has advanced over the 13 years. The auteur has reimagined Genet’s study of identity and social structure as a parody and takedown of modern celebrity culture and one of its driving engines, social media.Set designer Rosanna Vize has crafted a resplendent bachelorette pad, initially seen through a gauzy white curtain, for Madame’s quarters, where the live action takes place. Hallmarks of an indulged lifestyle indicated or suggested by Genet such as flowers and a vast, stylish wardrobe are present in abundance, but not quite to the point that they seem tacky; the tone is more girlish than gauche.Like Mr. Andrews, Mr. Williams has enlisted a young actress to play Madame, to suggest less a stuffy matron than a spoiled brat. In addition to being an heiress, the character is an influencer, having obviously parlayed her father’s wealth and connections into her own following among fans who consider materialism and shamelessness talents. (Think Paris Hilton, or any of the Kardashians.)Played by Yerin Ha, known for her roles in TV series such as “Bridgerton” and “Halo,” Madame projects both callousness and blazing vapidity, along with self-pity: She makes her entrance about halfway through the show with a monologue, essentially, lamenting the arrest of her boyfriend, who has been charged with theft. The maids, who have actually framed him, only interject briefly a few times, to affirm or appease her.They have plenty to say, naturally, when Madame is not around. “We are spectators, Claire. To her life,” Solange tells her sibling. “All we can do is stand at the sidelines and watch.” That life apparently revolves around partying — Solange also mentions smelling vodka soda and cherry vape on Madame’s jacket as she cleans her vomit off the bathroom floor — designer brands, and whining about paparazzi even as she relentlessly courts coverage on TikTok.Claire and Solange, true to their aspirational leanings, embrace the same instruments of overexposure. Mr. Williams and video designer Zakk Hein have added to the hall of mirrors fundamental to “Maids” large screens on which the servants and later Madame, who might as well be surgically attached to their smartphones, loom large and sometimes distorted, reflecting how a couple of generations—girls and young women in particular — now use technology to curate and twist reality.The most interesting aspect of Mr. Williams’s adaptation, in fact, is how it emphasizes that gender as well as class continue to figure into self-definition and desire. Phia Saban and Lydia Wilson, the attractive actresses respectively cast as Solange and Claire, capture their vulnerability as much as their hunger, and the director and Mr. Hein have given them a visually stunning and horrific denouement to further underline the dangers of seeking success and happiness through superficial and, increasingly, artificial means.Composer DJ Walde and sound designer Dan Balfour provide a soundscape stretching from Tchaikovsky to thumping house grooves to remind us that the search itself is eternal. Little wonder these maids have an enduring grip, and Mr. Williams does it justice with a production that’s as chilling as it is spectacular.

Jean Genet’s ‘Maids’ Are Now Vaping and in Thrall to TikTok

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