An up-and-coming theatre company is making a dark and psychological French play its first production in Saskatoon.
Whirligig Theatre Collective is stepping into the local theatre scene with an upcoming production of The Maids, written by French playwright Jean Genet in 1947. The play is a tensely dramatic and complex script that explores themes of power, queerness, identity, social structures and more through the lens of a pair of maids fantasizing about murdering their wealthy employer.
The Maids runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 7 at the Avenue Room in downtown Saskatoon. Jordan Harvey, a co-founder of Whirligig Theatre and the director of The Maids, said putting this play on stage over the Halloween season felt appropriate considering its insidious content.
“There’s a time for lighthearted comedies in theatre, there’s a time for sentimentality and joy and love — that’s not this play,” he said. “It’s dark and disturbed … an inversion of the natural order.”
Harvey said the inspiration to create the Whirligig Theatre Collective was due to an interest in producing The Maids and other shows like it after studying it in school with some other co-founders of the company. He noted there aren’t many other indie theatre groups taking on this type of material.
The artistic team also took their time making this show what they wanted — according to Harvey, the process of getting The Maids ready for the stage has taken over a year. While busy with other projects — and with the support of a grant from SK Arts — the cast and crew would meet weekly via video calling to pick apart the nuances of the show.
Harvey said it’s allowed the performers to absorb and interpret a show that has intrigued them since they were students.
“I didn’t particularly like this show at the beginning,” he said. “But I read it again and again … and I kept getting more out of it each time. The more I’ve read it, the more I’ve fallen in love with it. I’d call it a depraved masterpiece.”
Genet’s play was inspired by the real-life sisters Christine and Léa Papin, two maids who were convicted for the gruesome murders of their employer’s wife and daughter in 1933. Harvey said Genet’s script “goes to deep and dark places” to explore the socially critical themes evoked throughout.
Harvey said he was grateful for SK Arts and the Avenue Room for helping bring this show to a Saskatoon audience. As this new indie theatre collective prepares for its first show, Harvey hopes they can make their unique mark on the local theatre scene.
“With indie theatre, you have to be resourceful and innovative … what we’re trying to do is provide more quality theatre,” he said. “(The Maids) is a story, everyone is going to come out in the end, but I hope people are disturbed a little bit. The times are disturbing.”
The Maids will run on select days from Oct. 24 to Nov. 7 at the Avenue Room. Tickets can be found online through Eventbrite.
