About the work
A one-act play by Jean Genet, written in prison during the 1940s; director Louis Jouvet had requested it to round out an evening alongside Jean Giraudoux's Apollon de Marsac. It premiered as Les Bonnes on 17 April 1947 at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris under Jouvet's direction; the German premiere followed in Bonn in 1957.
Plot
While their mistress is away, the sisters Claire and Solange act out a ritual in which they take turns playing Madame and servant, rehearsing her murder. Their actual plan to poison Madame's tea fails when she leaves the house early; in the final ritual, Claire, playing Madame, drinks the poison herself.
Cultural significance
Inspired by the real murder case of the Papin sisters, the play is regarded as a key work between realism and ritual theatre that deliberately rejects conventional illusionistic drama; Jean-Paul Sartre's reading of Genet's work strongly shaped its later reception.