Customer Reviews

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of The Marquis de Sade (or Marat Sade)

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Written in the early sixties, the play frequently abbreviated as Marat/Sade is set in 1808, yet many of the comments are distinctly directed toward current events, notably the upheavals in Eastern Europe. Now, with the fall of the Soviet Union behind us, the play takes on even greater significance. Despite the reassurances of the asylum director, whether a mere fifteen years or well over two hundred years have passed, the nature of revolutions, and the fanatics who cause them, has not changed. Combining historical events with modern theatrics, Weiss has produced what has been and will continue to be one of the most disturbing, as well as one of the most important works ever to be performed on stage.

Maybe you have seen the film Quills and it has sparked an interest in you about the Marquis de Sade. Or maybe you are a history buff and are interested in the time of the French revolution, or perhaps you just love a really good thought-provoking play. If any of those things holds your interest you are in for a really marvelous read. 'The Persecution and Assassination of Jean Paul Marat as performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under The Direction of Marquis de Sade"(by Peter Weiss) is the full title of this book, but is AKA "Marat/Sade" and various editions may be found under either title. The edition I am reviewing is the English version(original is German) by Geoffrey Skelton.

So Marat/Sade is a play within a play with definite messages concerning "Revolution" and the effects on both the masses and the leaders. The setting is a fictional one, but uses the basis of historical events and characters to tell the story. The play inside this play is written and produced by Sade and performed by the inmates of Charenton where he spent so many years imprisoned for his writing, considered socially unacceptable and outrageous. The year it is being performed is 1808 but the events surrounding the story are happening on July 13, 1793, the day Charlotte Corday stabbed Jean-Paul Marat.

It is the day of the assassination. Marat, Sade, Corday,and political activists of the time argue back and forth about the reasoning and atrocities surrounding the Revolution and the state of Terror. The points going back and forth(sometimes in song) has the inmates(the rest of the cast), being easily swayed and worked up into a state of frenzy, all the while building to the stabbing. What is morally right and wrong? Heads are rolling - literally - who are the sane ones here - are the inmates running the asylum - so to speak?Even Columier(progressive director of the institution and supporter of freedom in arts)has trouble with the play when he feels it goes to far against the establishment.

This book, first published in 1965 grasps not only the horrific events of the 18th century, it is also certainly a statement on the international events of the 1960's. It will still provoke thought and may translate to some of the atrocities going on in the world today. Author Peter Weiss, seems to have really gotten into the heads of Sade, Marat and the others giving intellectual and provocative dialogue to the players. The scenes are well set for the stage, and excellent descriptions are given for each character making it very easy to visualize the entire play.

The books includes character descriptions - even down to subtle items in the wardrobe that would distinguish their roles, author's note on the historical background of the play,the music and words to the songs, and a brief bio of Weiss. I don't speak German(the 2 semesters I took in college nearly 40 years ago is long forgotten), but I have to say I don't feel like anything was lost in the translation of this play.

I would highly recommend this play to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, politics, infamous characters, and even if you are part of an acting group looking for an interesting and provocative play, you should have a look at this one.

This is a keeper and one to be read repeated times...enjoy the read...Laurie

also available here at the 4 for 3 deal at this time:
Marat/Sade

While certainly a brilliant play, I should mention that this edition differs slightly from the edition I used while in the United Kingdom. Aside from the typical spelling changes, certain words were changed slightly in meaning (Coulmier's "This is outright defeatism!" vs. "...outright pacifism!"). The biggest crime, however, was a drastic reduction of the final scene.

The UK edition features an extended Epilogue, including an explanation from Sade, the "resurrection" and counter-explanation of Marat, and a giant poster of Napoleon during the parade scene. In this edition, some of the Herald's lines were given to Coulmier to apparently bridge the gap.

All of the descriptions, introductions, notes, and even inclusion of musical scores remain identical. If given a choice, I would certainly look for that edition, as it is somewhat more fulfilling. (It features a standard black & white cover with no pink trim)

I found the title of Peter Weiss's play so interesting that I bought his play on an impulse. I half expected it to be unreadably pretentious, but in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would love to see it actually performed, but I live over a thousand miles from where that might be happening. One advantage of reading the play is that the author's comments are available.

I knew very little beyond the superficial about Sade or Marat, so I was somewhat surprised to discover that Sade actually wrote plays while confined in Charenton that were performed by the inmates, and that Marat was a scientist who expressed ideas well ahead of his time. I was inspired to learn more about Marat, so I read his essay ARE WE UNDONE, in which he urges: "The cutting off of five or six hundred heads would have guaranteed your peace, liberty and happiness." In the play he justifies this savagery by insisting (p. 113): "We do not murder we kill in self-defence." (It might very well be our beloved president speaking). If Marat was made the scapegoat for the Reign of Terror, it was not without foundation.

Weiss writes that what interested him "in bringing Sade and Marat together was the conflict between an individualism carried to extreme lengths and the idea of a political and social upheaval. Speaking to Marat, Sade says (p. 131), "these cells of the inner self are worse than the deepest stone dungeon as long as they are locked all your Revolution remains only a prison mutiny to be put down by corrupted fellow-prisoners." This dovetails interestingly with Sade's comment to his wife when she complained that one could not approve of his mode of thought (p. 147): "My mode of thought is the result of my reflections, it is a part of my life, of my own nature. It is not in my power to alter it, and if it were in my power I should not do it." This brings to mind Schopenhauer's reflection that "You can do what you want, but you cannot want what you want." Thus do Sade and Marat imprison themselves within their own grubby little minds. Sade claims, in this play at least, (p.72), "In a criminal society I dug the criminal out of myself so I could understand him and so understand the times we live in." His mode of thought makes this sort of understanding improbable.

However, as with all pessimistic assertions, this is not really true. With just a moment's honest reflection it is obvious enough that most of what makes up our "nature" is purely haphazard, and our "reflections" are just an obsessive rehashing of petty grievances and sexual fantasies that that we come to mistake for our true nature.

I first heard of this play around 30 years ago when it was performed by the upper classes of my school in England. I never forgot it and decided recently to purchase the play and to read it.
The story takes place in an insane asylum in France around the time of the French Revolution, where The Marquis de Sade was kept for a number of years. He wrote a play about the revolutionary - Jean-Paul Marat, which was performed by the inmates of the asylum.
However, the play is much more than that. It really is a commentary about about how people behave toward one another during terrible periods of time.
I think it is a remarkable play - sometimes a little horrifying - but very well worth while picking up to read. I whole heartedly recommend it.

so very worth the read and consideration for an ensemble production for a district and state competition for high schools. so much room to grow for young performers. and you'll never be in another play like this.

This is one of the greatest plays of the 20th Century. Read it. If you can find a DVD of the Royal Shakespeare Company production of it with Glenda Jackson as Charlotte Corday, but it. If you are a composer, make an opera out of it. It is a wonderful, terrible, terrifying piece of theater, and when Corday remarks regarding the guillotine, "They say, when the head is cut from the body...", it is one of the most frightening, wonderful stage moments in history, up there with Williams, with Brecht. Hell, with Marlowe and Shakespeare.