num_pages: 222
description: The Maids (Les Bonnes) is Jean Genet's most oft-revived work for the stage. First performed in Paris in 1947, its action was inspired by a real-life scandal, the murder by two maids, sisters Christine and Léa Papin, of their mistress and her daughter. Genet's maids - Solange and Claire - occupy themselves, whenever their Madame is out of doors, by acting out ritualised fantasies of revenging their downtrodden status. But when the game goes beyond their control the maids are compelled to try to make their fantasy a reality.'The most extraordinary example of the whirligigs of being and appearance, of the imaginary and the real, is to be found in [Genet's] The Maids. It is the element of fake, of sham, of artificiality, that attracts Genet in the theatre.' Jean-Paul Sartre
language: French
title: Les Bonnes
titlecomplete: Les Bonnes
characters: Solange, Claire
genres: Read For School, 20th Century, Theatre, French Literature, School, Drama, Plays, Classics, Fiction, France
ratings_count: 3109
publisher: Gallimard Education