Writer-director Kip Williams returns to the New York stage with The Maids, a modern adaptation of Jean Genet’s 1947 play about a pair of sibling housekeepers who role-play, scheme, and attempt to murder their abusive employer.
Based on the real-life case of Christine and Léa Papin, who confessed to the murder of Madame Léonie Lancelin and her daughter, Genet’s play brought attention to the complexities of socioeconomic disparity and mental illness. Williams catapults the work into modern day, with his signature use of live and sourced video, designed by Zakk Hein.
Beauty, AR filters, and tantrum fatigue
In an era of content-creator narcissism, Williams imagines sisters Claire and Solange (Lydia Wilson and Phia Saban, respectively) working for a successful social media influencer (Yerin Ha) who’s recently reported her boyfriend to the police for an unspecified crime to avoid collateral damage to her reputation. If that all sounds opaque, try watching the first 20 minutes through semi-sheer floor-to-ceiling curtains surrounding three sides of the stage at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Claire and Solange don wigs and designer shoes, raid Madame’s closet, and poison her tea after a quick internet search to determine the appropriate quantity of sleeping pills to knock her out permanently.
The trio’s vacuous intentions come to life through Hein’s use of beauty and AR filters, but for some audience members like me, tantrum fatigue may quickly set in. When Madame says, “My trauma isn’t something to be fetishized,” and Solange later responds, “Your ranting is tiring,” I could relate.
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Which isn’t to say the performances aren’t captivating. But unlike Williams’ The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which Sarah Snook transformed into 26 characters before our eyes with the help of an onstage film crew, The Maids gets stuck in a self-referential cycle that acts more as commentary than captivating theater.
Williams’ adaptation, like Genet’s original work, refuses to serve a tidy ending. Is the tainted tea a means to revenge, a final act of performance art, or a desperate cry for help? Maybe all three, maybe none. Regardless, there’s a hell of a mess to clean up when it’s all said and done.
It wants better content.
Is ‘The Maids’ at St. Ann’s Warehouse worth seeing?
Kip Williams’ update of Genet’s classic is visually stunning and thematically restless, but the filters can’t disguise when the play gets stuck in its own feed.
- St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water St, Brooklyn
- Notable performers: Yerin Ha, Phia Saban, Lydia Wilson
- Running time: TK
- Performances through June 14, 2026
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