joseph mcgrath

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Being a maid can be murder.

And can lead to murder.

Such is the case in Jean Genet's production of "The Maids," which Rogue Theatre opened last weekend.

This is not theater-lite.

"The Maids" is a disturbing tale of two sisters, bitter maids to a haughty mistress. They love her, they hate her, they take turns playing her, wearing her clothes and fantasizing about killing her. When life is so demoralizing, illusion can provide the necessary nourishment to go on. Until, of course, when the illusion is no longer enough.

While it's disturbing, this fine Rogue Theatre production is also substantive theater, providing food for thought rather than just entertainment.

Director Joseph McGrath has taken a straightforward approach to this production, and that serves it well — trying to camp up this play can rob it of its impact.

Playing the two sisters with fury mingled with a powerful desire are Cynthia Meier and Susan Arnold. Arnold's Claire mixes a bit of airy coquettishness with a nasty streak when she pretends to be the mistress.

"You hate me, don't you?" she says as she plays the mistress to Solange's maid. "You crush me with your attentions and your humbleness; you smother me with gladioli and mimosa." This before she harangues Solange for making the room too cluttered with flowers.

And Meier's Solange explodes with such bitterness and cruelty that it's a wonder she hasn't offed the mistress already. Oh wait, she did try even before the story began. And her failure infuriates her and shames her.

"Yes, my proud beauty," she says at one point to Claire-as-mistress. "You think you can always do just as you like. You think you can deprive me forever of the beauty of the sky, that you can choose your perfumes and powders, your nail polish and silk and velvet and lace, and deprive me of them?"

Whew. These woman have serious anger issues.

Arlene Naughton's mistress dripped icicles and falsity. You could kind of understand the "die-mistress-die" undercurrent throughout the play."

Rogue, now in its second season, has a track record of selecting plays that pay attention to language and content. This production is no exception.

Genet, who based this story on a 1933 crime in France, had a life full of prison, crime and great boosters in the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. He did with words what another champion of his work, Jean Cocteau, did with cinema — created illusions thick with beauty and disturbing images.

Rogue's stated mission is to challenge, stretch and invigorate the community.

It continues to do that with this production of "The Maids."