On March 3, A.R.T./New York Theatres presented The Maid and the Mesmerizer, a new play inspired by the Brontë sisters. Written by Patricia Lynn and directed by Jenn Susi, the two-hander details a high-energy love affair between a hypnotist and his assistant.
In the play, The Great Mesmerizer (Patrick T. Horn) is forced by his manager to hire a cliché lovely assistant for his show. The clever woman he hires does not fit the stereotype. As the duo performs more shows, their relationship develops into a strange romance. Suddenly, a night after a snowstorm in a motel room threatens their budding romance.
At the beginning of the play, a voiceover, pre-recorded by Alejandra Venancio, said that the play was a love story.
The stage had a minimal set to depict the series of motel rooms, which the duo shared. There was a bed, a box for the nightstand, and three movable boxes. The actors interacted with the set pieces throughout the show.
In the opening scene, the Mesmerizer sat on a box while the Assistant, played by Patricia Lynn and dressed in a maid costume, sat across from him. He hypnotized her during the audition in which she was supposed to fake the effects. She ended up in a real trance during which she imagined the moors of Yorkshire. After coming out of the dream, she expressed her amazement at the vivid images.
When the Mesmerizer hypnotized the Assistant, the lights dimmed. Austin Boyle completed the lighting design. After he snapped his fingers, the Assistant would wake up and the lights would become bright again.
The Mesmerizer shared his concern that she would experience detrimental effects from going into a hypnotic state repeatedly. In response, the Assistant mentioned her witty humor, plans to improve the Mezmerizer’s show, and maid costume. Eventually, the Mezmerizer agreed to hire her.
The Assistant drew up paperwork that included clauses about never falling in love and topics that she did not want to talk about, such as the moors of Yorkshire. The contract allowed the duo to become intimate and flirt with clever, fast-paced quips in the hotel rooms. The Assistant said that she would not fall in love with him repeatedly.
The third-person narrator called the duo “idiots.” She knew the Mesmerizer and his assistant would become romantically involved.
The narrator provided necessary storytelling elements as well. She informed the audience that time passed, the shows continued, and conversations between the Mesmerizer and Assistant deepened. Still, the Assistant did not want to discuss the moors of Yorkshire.
The actors did not move the set pieces often. At first, they half-joked that all the motel rooms looked the same.
The Assistant agreed to undergo hypnosis with the Mesmerizer privately. They thought that the exercise might help her process the significance of the moors of Yorkshire. She looked into his eyes and he asked what she saw. She replied “Snow.” Soon after, the hypnotic state became too much for the Assistant and she asked to be woken up. As instructed, the Mesmerizer woke her up.
Days later, the Assistant wanted to go back into the hypnotic state. This allowed the duo to better explore the significance of the moors of Yorkshire. The next morning, the Assistant woke up next to the Mesmerizer in bed. She got up and paced through the room. A bright yellow light appeared across the stage like the sunrise. During the same morning, the Mesmerizer entered the stage with a CVS bag.
He gave a box of Plan B to his Assistant. She wondered why she needed this item, despite not consenting to sex the night before. He informed her that there was a blizzard outside and that she could not leave. This touched upon the theme of snow, which the Assistant mentioned while looking into the Mesmerizer’s eyes.
The Assistant threw a bunch of props in the middle of the floor, such as pillows from the bed. This separated her from the Mesmerizer. At the end of the play, the duo started a difficult conversation about the definition of the words “love” and “consent.”
On Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m., a special performance is scheduled with ticket sales going towards The School Consent Project.
Below is a full list of the remaining performances:
Thursday, March 7 at 7p.m.
Friday, March 8 at 8p.m.
Saturday, March 9 at 8p.m.
Sunday, March 10 at 3p.m.
Wednesday, March 13 at 7p.m.
Thursday, March 14 at 7p.m.
Friday, March 15 at 8p.m.
Saturday, March 16 at 3p.m.
