A new staging of Jean Genet’s The Maids opens on 2 October for six performances at Theatre Next Door – with a post-show discussion for one night only, led by its award-winning director Scott Le Crass and representatives of the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) and LGBTI+ Gozo. 

Co-produced by Adrian Buckle and Victor De Bono, the production marks the first time Martin Crimp’s translation, first staged at London’s Young Vic in 1999, will be performed in Malta. Unlike many other international productions of The Maids that typically feature an all-female cast, the upcoming performance run stars three of Malta’s finest male performers: Malcolm Galea, Anton Saliba and Victor De Bono.  

The unusual casting decision by British theatre director Scott Le Crass offers a fresh interpretation of the play’s sexual dynamics and queer politics – a topic opened for further discussion following the performance on 4 October. 

“Genet wrote The Maids as a study of power and its abuses, and those questions haven’t dated at all,” says Scott Le Crass. “It’s a demanding piece for performers and audiences alike, and I think Malta is ready for it.” 

True crime inspired Jean Genet to pen his claustrophobic psychological drama The Maids in 1947. Fascinated by the double-murder of a mother and daughter in Le Mans in 1933 by their live-in maids, Genet wrote of two servants acting out elaborate fantasies in which they imitate – and kill – their mistress. Fantasy soon blurs with reality, and cruelty replaces any tenderness they once held for their employer. 

The play has since become one of Genet’s most frequently revived works, staged across France, the UK and the US – and performance runs continue internationally. A version directed by Kip Williams recently transferred from London’s Donmar Warehouse to St Ann’s Warehouse in New York, following another staging at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2025.  

Known for his award-winning classic play revivals, solo shows such as Rose starring Maureen Lipman, and his focus on powerful, often working-class or queer-themed stories, Scott Le Crass leads a formidable creative team for The Maids. Chakib Zidi is movement director, complementing set design by Romualdo Moretti, costume design by Nicole Cuschieri, lighting design by Christopher Gatt and sound design by Albert Garzia. 

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