Hilda

Theater artists from both sides of the Atlantic gather in San Francisco to introduce acclaimed French-African writer Marie Ndiaye’s first play, Hilda, to an American audience. Directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff and copresented with international theater producer Laura Pels, Hilda receives its U.S. premiere as part of A.C.T.’s ongoing First Look series of new works. This will be the play’s first English language presentation, translated from the original French by Erika Rundle.

Hilda is a taut psychological thriller charting the mysterious relationship between an upper class housewife, Mrs. Lemarchand, and Hilda, the beautiful yet unseen woman she hires to care for her children. As the manipulative Mrs. Lemarchand continually renegotiates the terms of Hilda’s employment with Hilda’s working-class husband, Frank, the true nature of her desires becomes clear. As Hilda’s own personal life is rapidly consumed-and ultimately destroyed-by her needy and greedy employer, the play’s deceptively simple dialogue creates a larger, riveting picture of the insidious motivations pulsing beneath the current of modern-day class relations.

No performances Sunday, February 6.