--- id: "theatre-8-en" title: "Not The Maids" subtitle: "Behind a monthly salary of $4310, she is much more..." category: "theatre" startDate: "Fri Aug 11 2017 12:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)" endDate: "Sun Aug 13 2017 12:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)" status: "Past Event" tags: ["Song Theatre", "Devising Theatre"] venues: ["Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Cultural Activities Hall"] liveUrl: "https://www.rooftopproductions.hk/en/theatre/not-the-maids" --- # Not The Maids **Subtitle:** Behind a monthly salary of $4310, she is much more... **Category:** THEATRE **Tags:** Song Theatre, Devising Theatre **Live Link:** https://www.rooftopproductions.hk/en/theatre/not-the-maids ## Dates & Tickets - **Dates:** 11 – 13 Aug 2017 - **Duration:** 1 hour 30 minutes - **Status:** Past Event ## Description 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’? ### 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 _become_ that person, you put on the uniform and you act the part.” - Guard Interview, Stanford Prison Experiment 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. ## Audience Information - **Language:** In English and Cantonese, surtitled in both languages. ## Awards & Recognition - **Nominated for:** Performance of the Year - IATC (HK) Critics Awards 2017 - **Nominated for:** Best Script - 10th Hong Kong Theatre Libre (2017-2018) - **Nominated for:** Best Director - 10th Hong Kong Theatre Libre (2017-2018) - **Nominated for:** Best Performance - 10th Hong Kong Theatre Libre (2017-2018) ## Creative Team - **Presenter:** Rooftop Productions - **Directors:** Ivor Houlker, Michelle Li - **Collaborating Actors:** Michelle Li, Russell Terre Aranza, Karen C. Siu, Isabella Leung - **Lighting Designer:** Lai Bie - **Stage Manager:** Ray Wong - **Promotion Photographer:** Ivor Houlker ## Venue ### Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Cultural Activities Hall - **Type:** Physical Location - **Address:** 3/F, Ngau Chi Wan Municipal Services Building, 11 Clear Water Bay Road, Kowloon - **Getting there:** 5 minutes from Ngau Chi Wan Station, Exit B. - **Map:** [View map](https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJRekqN88GBDQRUkcKSeWpHj8) ![Map image showing the location of Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Cultural Activities Hall](https://res.cloudinary.com/rphk/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/v1/rooftop-maps/en/ngau-chi-wan-civic-centre-hall) ## What Critics Say > "What touched me most was the personal stories between the performers and their own helpers at home. " — *RTHK Artscritique* > ""Not the Maids" is a splendid collage of diverse traits, ingeniously pieced together. It has opened up an arts space which is not easily handled by traditional theatre." — *[object Object]* ## multimedia ![Karen C. Siu explores themes of surveillance in Rooftop Productions' 2017 stage play, 'Not The Maids'. Photo by Ivor Houlker.](https://res.cloudinary.com/rphk/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/v1/rooftop-images/not-the-maids-key-visual) ## Attribution & Copyright © 2017 Rooftop Productions. All rights reserved.