Berlin Weekend for Democracy at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin
Claire and Solange are maids, sisters, employees of a despotic mistress. Day in, day out, they clean the luxurious apartment of the all too gracious woman. They scrub, wipe, polish and besmirch the furniture and the ego of their mistress in equal measure - until they decide to get rid of their mistress once and for all...
Image gallery
"Die Zofen" von Genet. Puppenspiel für Erwachsene. Drittjahresprojekt Regie 2022 der Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch
Who is actually trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation of dependencies and mortifications? Does the gracious mistress exist without her servants? And who is her true right hand and what gets into her head?
A surreal (puppet) play within a play within a play begins and "just a wave of your hand would be enough and you would cease to exist."
"The Maids" basically fulfill all the requirements for the success of a democracy. There are three of them, a majority against the totalitarian system: the gracious woman - the doll. And yet here you can watch their glorious failure. Revolution and abuse of power in the living room. Hopeless and human?
The Maids (French: Les Bonnes) is a 1947 tragedy in one act by Jean Genet, which premiered that year at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris amid strong protests. It was Genet's first work performed on stage and is his most frequently performed play.
Third-Year Project Directing 2022 of the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. In collaboration with puppetry students and a student from the directing department, a wonderful, extremely virtuosic production about dependencies, majorities and the claim to leadership has been created. The maids, in Genet there are two, are three here. The Madame is a puppet. What is already inherent in the way the puppet plays, namely the question of who takes the lead, becomes here an intelligent question of power, of who excludes whom from the play (participation) by what means.
The performance of the play The Maids is part of the Berlin Weekend for Democracy, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the 1848 Revolution. It is part of the commemorative work on the history of the site at the Humboldt Forum.
- Director: Naemi Friedmann
- Dramaturgy: Lukas Nowak
- Stage and costume design: Sarah Wolters
- Performing: Almut Schäfer-Kubelka, Maximilian Teschemacher and Sven Tillmann
- Language: German
- wheelchair accessible
- from 16 years
- School classes from 10th grade
- Location: Hall 2, ground floor
