'A kind of creative claustrophobia,' Lorna Irvine has mixed feelings about the Citizens latest production.
Acclaimed director Stewart Laing is a cheeky one. His adaptation of Les Bonnes, the often overlooked Jean Genet play from the 1940s, which is loosely based on the real life events of the 30s where two French sisters committed a murder, is wilfully uneven in tone and highly irreverent.
All elements of power struggles, sexual domination/submission and rage are intact, yet Ross Mann and Scott Reid (portraying Claire and Solange, respectively) act out roles previously written for women, as domestic maids tiring of the tyranny of their mistress (a brilliant Samuel Keefe) whose conspicuous consumption and endless whining demands so begin to grate that the pair plot her (his) murder.
This study of societal hierarchies and blurring of identities has recurring motifs: literal and figurative mirrors; dying flowers and crumpled clothing suggestive of the ephemeral nature of all things, and a curtain which teasingly opens and closes at surprising moments, almost acting like a fourth character.
Some bold staging choices then. However, the production’s strengths are also its weaknesses- pouring idea upon idea brings about a kind of creative claustrophobia: the live music played on electric guitars by the trio of actors is great and maddening in equal measure ( Bowie and Metallica? Hmmm...) back projections of Vietnam war footage and a Velvet Underground club night are a little jarring, as is the device of using broad Glasgow accents.
Some ten minutes before the end, Laing himself interrupts the play to do a (staged?) Q and A session which breaks not only the fourth wall, but stamps a giant Python-esque foot through the ceiling: it’s almost too arch, too post-modern.
Still, kudos to Laing for bringing a fresh, energetic approach- however over-egged.
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