The 1955 American premiere at the Tempo Playhouse on St. Marks Place in the East Village was just as divisive. One critic called the play “a torment,” and another complained that it was meaningless, although he conceded that it addressed “the wounds of the modern spirit.” Martin Esslin admired “The Maids” in his 1961 BOOK “The Theatre of the Absurd,” but many considered it too nihilistic to be more than a downtown or campus attraction.