Production Returns to Seoul for Third Domestic Run From Sept. 17 to 27

Jean Genet’s play “The Maids” will be staged at Nown Theater in Seoul’s Daehangno district from Sept. 17 to 27.

Produced by Drama Company Soo, the production was selected for the Arts Council Korea’s 2026 performing arts creation support program. It follows the company’s productions “At the Boundary of Light and Darkness” and “Romantic Bullshit” as its final work of the year.

First performed in 1947, “The Maids” examines desire, power and identity through the hierarchical relationship between two maids and their employer, Madame.

While Madame is away, Solange and Claire wear her clothes and imitate her speech and behavior. They alternate between the roles of mistress and servant, exposing desires and anger suppressed in their daily lives.

Their role-play combines admiration with hatred and obedience with resistance. As it continues, the distinction between reality and fiction begins to break down.

Drama Company Soo first staged the work at Art Space Hyehwa in 2020. It returned at the National Theater of Korea’s Byeoloreum Theater in 2021 and was presented in Korean at an international performing arts festival in Osaka in 2025. The upcoming production marks its third domestic run.

Director Koo Tae Hwan said the desire to live another person’s life and confirm one’s existence through the gaze of others remains present despite changes in time and society.

He added that the production would retain the structure of Genet’s original text, allowing contemporary audiences to consider its questions through their own experiences.

Song Yi-joo will play Madame, while Park Seung-hee will appear as Claire. Yoo Jin-hee and Bae Hyun-a have been cast as Solange.

[Sayart = Kelly.K]