Rooftop Productions • Not The Maids | null | Rooftop Productions • Hong Kong Theatre Company

Not The MaidsBehind a monthly salary of $4310, she is much more...

Hong Kong has nearly 350,000 foreign domestic workers. On Sundays you can see them in public squares and parks; a street view unique to this city. These ‘maids’ flew from their homes to work in another home. Each week they work for six days performing household chores, taking care of children and the elderly. For one day a week, they are guitarists, photographers, rugby players… themselves.

‘Maid’, ‘Helper’, ‘Foreign Domestic Worker’… Apart from these names, how much do we really understand ‘them’?

IATC (HK) Critics Awards: Best Show (Nominated)
Hong Kong Theatre Libre: Best Director (Nominated)
Ivor Houlker, Michelle Li
Hong Kong Theatre Libre: Best Script (Nominated)
Hong Kong Theatre Libre: Best Scenography (Nominated)
DirectorsIvor Houlker, Michelle Li
Collaborating ActorsKaren C. Siu, Isabella Leung, Russell Terre Aranza, Michelle Li
Lighting DesignerLai Bie
Stage ManagerRay Wong
Graphic DesignerAlfie Leung
Special thanks to Pants Theatre Production.
  • In English and Cantonese, surtitled in both languages.
  • Free Seating, no refunds after confirmation.
  • The show lasts for around 90 minutes, please stay for our post-show talk.
  • Latecomers will not be admitted.
  • All rights reserved by Rooftop Productions Ltd.

Tickets

Adult

180HKD

Dates

Friday, 11 August 2017 at 20:00
Saturday, 12 August 2017 at 20:00
Sunday, 13 August 2017 at 20:00
Map, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Cultural Activities Hall, 3/F, Ngau Chi Wan Municipal Services Building, 11 Clear Water Bay Road, Kowloon, https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/tc/ncwcc/index.html
Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Cultural Activities Hall
3/F, Ngau Chi Wan Municipal Services Building, 11 Clear Water Bay Road, Kowloon

Directors' Notes

The starting point for the form came from Genet’s text The Maids, whose multiple layers of roleplaying gave us an insight into how to go about putting such a complex topic and a variety of different voices on stage.  Thinking of ‘employer,’ ‘domestic worker,’ ‘agent’ etc. as ‘roles’ which are fulfilled by individuals rather than inherent traits of those individuals is an important part of our critical approach to interview texts.  

“You really

This coherence of this approach was reinforced by our reading into the Stanford Prison Experiment as a way of dealing with the question of abuse.  

As always with our shows, objects and sound play an important role.  In Not The Maids, these follow the pattern of juxtaposing high and low status, kitchen and kitsch.  We are particularly inspired by Tadeusz Kantor’s work on bio-objects, and our approach to character begins from this angle.  

Our approach has involved simultaneously writing, devising, experimenting and then going back to write again.  We realised early on that simply illustrating the stories we heard in our interviews was a waste of theatrical space.  We had to find ways of adding layers of meaning that were not simple repetitions of the interview content, but contained our own reception of the stories’ encoded meaning.  

We turned to Brecht’s ideas around gestus for guidance, creating tableaux and situations exemplifying social power relationships. These began from our own experiences in research, such as employers providing drinks for us but not the domestic worker in interviews.  This also forced us to confront our own roles as interpreters of information, and our privilege/responsibility in disseminating it.

We would like to thanks all our interviewees and their families, also to our collaborators, for the questions they have answered and the questions they have asked.