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3 THEATRE maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JULY 2026 Malta-first production of Jean Genet's The Maids to open at Theatre Next Door JEAN Genet's classic play The Maids opens at Theatre Next Door for six performances only this October – and early bookers can save 15 per cent on tickets if they secure their seats before 15 August. Produced by Adrian Buckle and Victor De Bono, The Maids stars a brilliant, unusually all-male, cast: Victor De Bono, Malcolm Galea and Anton Saliba, with movement direction by Chakib Zidi. British theatre and digital director Scott Le Crass directs, known for his award-winning play revivals and solo shows such as Rose, starring Maureen Lipman. Genet wrote The Maids in 1947, drawing loosely from true crime: the killing of a mother and daugh- ter in Le Mans in 1933 by their live-in maids, in a notorious case that also influenced Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. In Genet's claustrophobic psycho- logical drama, two servants act out an elaborate and increasingly dangerous game in which they imitate – and seek to destroy – their mistress. Soon, fantasy edges towards the real thing. Devotion turns to resentment and tender- ness to cruelty, as the boundaries between performance and reality collapse. The production marks the first time Martin Crimp's English translation will be staged in Mal- ta, following its premiere at the Young Vic Theatre in 1999. It also joins a busy run that contin- ues internationally – a produc- tion directed by Kip Williams has just transferred from London's Donmar Warehouse to St Ann's Warehouse in New York, follow- ing a separate staging at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2025. "Genet's play still unsettles au- diences nearly 80 years after he wrote it," says De Bono. "The Maids asks difficult questions about power, identity and control, while exposing the violence, de- sire and self-loathing embedded in systems of domination. Scott's direction doesn't flinch from any of them." Adrian Buckle and Victor De Bono's production of The Maids by Jean Genet performs at The- atre Next Door, Magħtab, on 2, 3, 9 and 10 October at 8pm and on 4, 11 October at 7pm. The production is supported by Arts Council Malta, Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM), LGBTQ+ Gozo, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ and the French Embassy in Malta. This production is suitable for audiences aged 16 and over. Early bird tickets are available until 15 August from www.adrianbuckle. com. Martin Crimp's translation stars Victor De Bono, Malcolm Galea and Anton Saliba, with an early bird ticket offer available for a limited time only All photos by Darrin Zammit Lupi