Phizzical will be touring from Feb 2009 with The Maids by Jean Genet, in a new translation by Neil Bartlett. The play will be directed and designed by Samir Bhamra. Two maids in service to a Madame pass the moments of their day play acting. As the line between fantasy and reality begins to disintegrate, their games take a deadly turn. Jealousy, resentment, sexual tension and betrayal converge in this classic French thriller. 'The Maids' is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947. A film adaptation of the play was released in 1974 and starred Glenda Jackson as Solange and Susannah York as Claire.

Genet loosely based his play on the infamous Papin sisters, Lea and Christine, who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in Le Mans, France, in 1933, although the play is not the story of the Papin sisters as such. Solange and Claire are two housemaids who construct elaborate sadomasochistic rituals when their mistress (Madame) is away. The focus of their theatrical playing is the murder of Madame and they take turns portraying either side of the power divide. The deliberate pace and devotion to detail guarantees that they always fail to actualize their fantasies by ceremoniously "killing" Madame at the ritual's denouement.