Absurdist, Difficult and Compelling

French writer Jean Genet, petty criminal and frequent prisoner of the state, was the first great playwright of theater of the absurd. In the 1950s and ’60s, writers from Pinter to Beckett to Stoppard and Albee focused on Camus’ thesis in “The Myth of Sisyphus,” that life was absurd and meaningless. Genet took Camus’ world view, added his own fascination with sexual role-playing, sado-masochism, oppression of the working class and what he called “the beauty of evil,” and created unique, dark, often difficult works like “The Maids,” now at The Sherman Playhouse. Two sisters, Solange and Claire, work in the house of Madame. In their hated garret room or in the grand boudoir of Madame when she is away, they enact “the ceremony,” making fun of Madame’s rules, her narcissism, her lover, whom they have caused to be arrested by drafting an anonymous letter. The ceremony always ends with the murder of Madame. Tension builds until after two murders Solange is left alone with memories and madness. The ceremony is also about their self-loathing, their hatred of being servants and their own probably incestuous relationship. It is full of frequent reversals of dominance and language that moves between poetic, turgid and obscure: When did you last hear reference to “pale Hyperion” in a play? Too much for a small, community theater? Well, yes and no. Sherman’s production opens impressively. Solange and Claire, dressed in black-and-white maids’ costumes, stand back-to-back, hand-in-hand in Madame’s boudoir. As faint music begins, they start a slow dance, turning-in-place with increasing energy as the music grows louder and faster, until they are angrily stomping and the music is overwhelming. Such a good start for director Robin Frome, who later does his best to manage the wordy if fascinating script on a single-set stage. Mostly he succeeds. Kelly McMurray (Solange) is superb. Tall and slender, she is dramatically beautiful; and she knows how to use her body on stage. Her reversals from dominatrix to dominated are sharp and shocking, her speech nuanced, yet powerful. Emma Nissenbaum (Claire), while good, seems less formed as an actor, less able to give her lines variety. Veteran Katherine Almquist (Madame) is, as always, controlled, competent, professional. But she never manages the nastiness that alternates with the self-congratulating kindness in Madame’s character. Frome’s sets — he designed them and helped build them — are fine for such a limited stage. Lynn Nissenbaum has costumed her three characters well, though I think the beige, what today’s designers call “nude,” is wrong for Almquist, whose hideous 1940s hairdo is spot on. Lighting designer Peter Petrino’s work is excellent, especially in the play’s opening. “The Maids” is a tough play, both for a theater to produce and for audiences to sit through. But the opening night audience was enthusiastic with applause. The Sherman Players, through ambition and fearlessness, have mounted a great play. “The Maids” runs at The Sherman Playhouse in Sherman, CT, through Oct. 5. Tickets: 860-354-3622 or www.shermanplayers.org.