No room for faint hearts or indifference with The Maids

As Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel once observed, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. That’s the one emotion you definitely won’t find in Dundee Rep’s latest theatre production, The Maids, which tells the story of two murderous servants, Solange and Claire, who are torn between loving and loathing their spoilt mistress.

Trapped in a bleak life they detest, they while away the hours by visualising destructive scenarios in which their mistress’s reign comes to an end.

Originally written by French playwright Jean Genet, who was inspired by the story of the Papin Maids who killed their own mistress, this noir play celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

But the passing time has done nothing to thaw this chilling tale.

Filled with symbols, rituals and disturbing dreams, this play is the stuff of nightmares.

Watching The Maids is like taking a walk through a hall of mirrors.

Filled with intrigue and illusion, the audience is involved in unpicking what is real and what is fantasy.

As the tension builds on stage, the atmosphere in the theatre shifts too as the audience begin to wonder just how far this play is prepared to go.

Directed by Eve Jamieson, the all female cast is fearless in its depiction of these sometimes unlikable characters.

Emily Winter brings light to the production as the melodramatic mistress, Ann Louise Ross shines as the menacing Solange, but it is Irene Macdougal who steals the show as the unravelling younger maid, Claire, who swings wildly between her saintly and devilish self.

Grizzly, troubling and filled with confusion, this play is not for the fainthearted, but those who endure this labyrinth of masks and mirrors will be very glad that they did.

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Watching The Maids is like taking a walk through a hall of mirrors