The Information on: `The Maids'

What Is It?

Katie Mitchell's fine production of Jean Genet's 1947 psychodrama about two maids plotting to murder their mistress, in a new translation by Martin Crimp.

Who's In It?

Anastasia Hille and Aisling O'Sullivan rise to the challenge magnificently as the downtrodden servants.

What They Say About It

"Martin Crimp has contributed a lucid new translation that embraces the mock-ceremonious vitality of Genet's maidspeak without making it sound as hideously floral as their aprons," Dominic Cavendish, The Independent.

"As Mitchell directs it, The Maids is Genet's lament for the powerless and unfulfilled; and it still has a point today," Benedict Nightingale, The Times.

"Mitchell's production makes the tangle of warped emotions more than usually dark and oppressive," Nick Curtis, Evening Standard.

"The miracle of Katie Mitchell's superb new staging is its creepy, genuine terror," Michael Coveney, Daily Mail.

Where You Can See It

The Maids is at the Young Vic, London SE1 (0171-928 6363) to 7 Aug