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5th out of 337 books
—
137 voters
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
This extraordinary play, which swept Europe before coming to America, is based on two historical truths: the infamous Marquis de Sade was confined in the lunatic asylum of Charenton, where he staged plays; and the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat was stabbed in a bathtub by Charlotte Corday at the height of the Terror during the French Revolution. But this play-within-a-play...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
December 1st 2001
by Waveland Pr Inc
(first published 1963)
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This play is just amazing. It's not a play you can like, per se, but it is one which gets inside your head and has an influence over the way in which you think about things in day to day life; at least, it did for me anyway.
Initially discovering this book through my theatre studies class, I went on to keep my now very battered script and put my own take on it, to direct the production myself.
One of the things to note, is that this is a play within a play; the only characters not playing a dual...more
Initially discovering this book through my theatre studies class, I went on to keep my now very battered script and put my own take on it, to direct the production myself.
One of the things to note, is that this is a play within a play; the only characters not playing a dual...more
A complex play to be sure. And believe me one that is even more complex to design costumes for. I really love it though and wish that I did fully understand it.
This play is close to my heart and it got that way very quickly. I saw it performed through my drama school, Toi Whakaari last year by a group of my school friends and they did such a great great job. This play is gritty and grimy and terrifying and so strong and forceful. It's definately a must read.
I don't really know what to say that...more
This play is close to my heart and it got that way very quickly. I saw it performed through my drama school, Toi Whakaari last year by a group of my school friends and they did such a great great job. This play is gritty and grimy and terrifying and so strong and forceful. It's definately a must read.
I don't really know what to say that...more
One of the best plays that I've read in my life. Peter Weiss is up there with Dario Fo and Friedrich Durrenmatt as playwrights who are underrated or ignored because of the way their works challenge traditional thought. It may be as simple as their political views-- Fo and Weiss are both communists-- or it may be the fact that they challenge traditional beliefs in religious purity ("The Pope and the Witch") or view that science is separate from or beyond morality ("The Physicists"). I'd heard of...more
It was fun to read and I tried to do it as if I were seeing the play. That worked pretty well. My third political read in a row. Funny and provocative. Seems like we're having the same political divide(s) in this country: individual vs. the collective... rich vs. poor etc. Judy Collins did a collage of the plays songs on one of her earlier albums but I forget which one. I "studied" the French Revolution at two different times in my formal schooling days but don't remember very much. The relentle...more
I have been obsessed with this play ever since it played in New York back in the 60s. I used to check the Royal Shakespeare Company recording out of the library all the time and was surprised that I had whole chunks of it still memorized almost 40 years later. The movie, of course looms very large.
It is a difficult play to read because it is so theatrical and it seem to me that so much of the power of it depends on the stagecraft. I am not so sure about the philosophy of the play... Marat's impa...more
It is a difficult play to read because it is so theatrical and it seem to me that so much of the power of it depends on the stagecraft. I am not so sure about the philosophy of the play... Marat's impa...more
"Marat/Sade" is a very confusing play, which makes sense considering a group of asylum inmates are performing the play within the play. The writer/director often talks with the actors of his play; most of the main argument come from this fourth wall breaking commentary.
Weiss makes negative and controversial points about sacred subjects, such as religion and revolution, through insane characters; this comes off as a sort of protection for the author. If anyone complains about the priest jumping t...more
Weiss makes negative and controversial points about sacred subjects, such as religion and revolution, through insane characters; this comes off as a sort of protection for the author. If anyone complains about the priest jumping t...more
I'd long heard about this play -- a hissing and a scandal when it opened in the 1960s -- but never read it, so when the opportunity arose, I did. I am glad to know more about Marat, Sade, and French revolutionary history, and the stage pictures it presents are incredible (and in their own time, groundbreaking) in their grotesquerie; but it's not really what you'd call a good time.
Also, this translation was written in rhyme, and the rhyme just read awkwardly to me throughout. Maybe it's better i...more
Also, this translation was written in rhyme, and the rhyme just read awkwardly to me throughout. Maybe it's better i...more
Possibly the most amazing play I've ever read. I have never seen it on stage but there is a riveting film under the direction of Peter Brooks that can be found on DVD with a little effort. But the reading of this play is a revelation in itself. It is very complex, a play-within-a-play, and works on so many social and philosophical levels that you come away dizzy. If you read the title, you've read the plot. But it is the ideas expressed in the play within the play that makes this a classic. Stra...more
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Best play I've read this year, I think. I might have to think harder, but I'm hard-pressed to think of a play I read (Aside from Tennessee's one acts) that I really liked. I've had better years for theater. Made me regret having sold my collected Sade out on Humboldt for an imperceptibly low price, but having consumed the Sade cannon by like age 19, this is probably for the best. There are a couple of quotes in this play that I intend to steal for elsewhere, which of course I can't admit to, spe...more
Weiss’s play is set in an asylum. The Marquis de Sade is one of the inmates in this asylum, and he stages a play about the death of Marat, using other inmates in the asylum as actors.
The play employs Bertolt Brechtian distancing devices. In the prologue, for instance, we are told what the action of the play will be. Much of the exposition comes not from the actors acting, but from a herald who tells us about the characters (and about the asylum inmates playing the roles). The text is divided int...more
The play employs Bertolt Brechtian distancing devices. In the prologue, for instance, we are told what the action of the play will be. Much of the exposition comes not from the actors acting, but from a herald who tells us about the characters (and about the asylum inmates playing the roles). The text is divided int...more
Apr 05, 2009
Erik Graff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Erik by:
Walter Wallace, Ed Erickson
Shelves:
drama
There were few fieldtrips in high school, but one was quite memorable. I'd been to the Art Institute of Chicago before, certainly, but we were taken to see a travelling exhibit of the works of David. Of those paintings I was most struck by The Death of Marat, the image of which has remained clear.
Jim Gottreich, the teacher of sophomore European history, introduced us to the study of the French Revolution which, of course, was so like our own. Looking for role models, I did not much attend to t...more
Jim Gottreich, the teacher of sophomore European history, introduced us to the study of the French Revolution which, of course, was so like our own. Looking for role models, I did not much attend to t...more
I was in a production of this in college. I had a very minor, non-speaking role - and it's still the one play I want to go back and do again! There was a professor on campus who had seen 13 productions of this play, including the original German production and the legendary production by Peter Brook.
He said our's was one of the best he'd seen. I can't honestly provide any kind of objective critique of this play - it has too many wonderful memories for me!
He said our's was one of the best he'd seen. I can't honestly provide any kind of objective critique of this play - it has too many wonderful memories for me!
It took FOREVER for me to read this. FOREVER. And not because I didn't want it to end. I thought it would NEVER end. I think my disinterest in this play is further proof that Brechtian alienation and Theatre of Cruelty are just not for me. I'd rather be invited into a world than shunned from it. Perhaps seeing it onstage would change my opinion of it, but as a reading experience? AWFUL. Just AWFUL.
Watched the film with Glenda Jackson on YouTube. I have read this before but I was much younger and thought revolution might be a good idea. Today I am struck by the obvious - people have always disliked unfairness. Even the most common man once given power seems to totally forget this so there is always some amount of discontent waiting like a virus to get the signal and invade the greater body.
"MARAT
O que é uma banheira de sangue
perto do sangue que ainda há de correr
Um dia pensamos que algumas centenas de mortos seriam o bastate
depois vimos que mesmo milhares eram insuficientes
E hoje não podem mais ser contados
ali e em todo lugar
em todo lugar
(...)
Simonne
Ouço o clamor dentro de mim
Simonne
Eu sou a Revolução."
"SADE
Olhai-os Marat
olhai os antigos donos de todos os bens do mundo
como transformaram em triunfo a sua queda
Agora que lhes roubaram todos os prazeres
O cadafalso guarda-os de tédio i...more
O que é uma banheira de sangue
perto do sangue que ainda há de correr
Um dia pensamos que algumas centenas de mortos seriam o bastate
depois vimos que mesmo milhares eram insuficientes
E hoje não podem mais ser contados
ali e em todo lugar
em todo lugar
(...)
Simonne
Ouço o clamor dentro de mim
Simonne
Eu sou a Revolução."
"SADE
Olhai-os Marat
olhai os antigos donos de todos os bens do mundo
como transformaram em triunfo a sua queda
Agora que lhes roubaram todos os prazeres
O cadafalso guarda-os de tédio i...more
A play I read for a University of Washington literature course in 1973, and of which I've seen the film Marat/Sade two or three times since. This reading was more stimulating, probably because I can still clearly visualize the shocking scenes from the movie. Knowing more now about French history also helped in the enjoyment of this play.
I should actually note I have not read this play in full but there was no option for watched/ performed and I really adored it and wanted to add it. I have seen a short version of this, and participated in tryouts for the play where I both saw and performed monologues from the play. I love the speeches and the poetry!
Nov 02, 2008
Adam
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Adam by:
Sean Doyle
Shelves:
philosophy,
plays
This play is absolutely epic. The title says it all, if anyone is curious about what takes place plotwise.
What is more important in the dialogue is the discussions that occur between Jacques Roux, De Sade, Marat, and Corday. This stands as a terrifying reminder that history continues to repeat itself, and asks the question, "are we always completely powerless to stop it?" "Will there always be roles of master/slave, oppressor and oppressed?"
The symbolic significance of each of the characters, i...more
What is more important in the dialogue is the discussions that occur between Jacques Roux, De Sade, Marat, and Corday. This stands as a terrifying reminder that history continues to repeat itself, and asks the question, "are we always completely powerless to stop it?" "Will there always be roles of master/slave, oppressor and oppressed?"
The symbolic significance of each of the characters, i...more
"The more you scratch, the more you itch."
From the Author's Note: "What interests me in bringing together Sade and Marat is the conflict between an individualism carried to extreme lengths and the idea of a political and social upheaval."
From the Author's Note: "What interests me in bringing together Sade and Marat is the conflict between an individualism carried to extreme lengths and the idea of a political and social upheaval."
Weiss did an amazing job envisioning the world of an early 19th century insane asylum through the eyes of one of the most brilliant "insane" folks of that time, Marquis du Sade. I can't wait to see a production of this.
This play is astounding. I had to read it for a class and I agree with my professor that this is a play that absolutely needs to be read and not just watched. The unbelievably deep arguments between Sade and Marat take place so quickly on stage that there is no way your mind could process it at all quickly enough to understand them. The philosophical battle between nihilism and revolutionary ideals was so well constructed i really do feel that it ends in a complete stalemate. Moreover, there was...more
hypnotic and skin-creeping, although now pinned down (in my imagination at least) by the movie (great as it is). best of all, though, one can hear adrian mitchell's voice distinctly in his verse adaptation.
May 14, 2011
Scott Fuchs
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
serious readers
Equal to the most brilliant of contemporary plays of the 20th & 21st cetury.... although it's fame is not wide-spread.
This brilliance is surpassed only by Peter Brooks',without peer,stage presentation
This brilliance is surpassed only by Peter Brooks',without peer,stage presentation
Feb 21, 2010
Alex
added it
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) by Peter Weiss (2001)
This is a highly pretentious, overly self-conscious, over-studied play that I really resent having had to read. I don't care for it at all. AT ALL. Like, to the degree that the play, just sitting on my self, actually irritates me.
Aug 10, 2011
Mary B.
added it
I memorized the title for Drama class, and then stole the playbook.
I just got some informations about Kaufman and The Laramie Project from our friend Amy in Drama and Theatre group, and it reminds me Peter Wiess, the German-Check-Swiss-Swede playwright. I don't know what his theatre form is called, kind of interview-documentary performance which is based on the real story...
as far as I can remember I enjoyed his plays a lot. Reading "The Persecution and Assassination ..." was a big thoughtful joy I had at the begining of 1970's ... one should be interested in...more
as far as I can remember I enjoyed his plays a lot. Reading "The Persecution and Assassination ..." was a big thoughtful joy I had at the begining of 1970's ... one should be interested in...more
Outstanding play. I would love to see a live performance one day.
Amazing. Just plain brilliant!
London 2001
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Peter Ulrich Weiss (November 8, 1916 – May 10, 1982) was a German writer, painter, and artist of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his play Marat/Sade and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance.
Weiss' first art exhibition took place in 1936. His first produced play was Der Turm in 1950. In 1952 he joined the Swedish Experimental Film Studio, where he made films for several...more
More about Peter Weiss...
Weiss' first art exhibition took place in 1936. His first produced play was Der Turm in 1950. In 1952 he joined the Swedish Experimental Film Studio, where he made films for several...more
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“We've got rights the right to starve
We've got jobs waiting for work
We're all brothers lousy and dirty
We're all free and equal to die like dogs”
—
9 people liked it
We've got jobs waiting for work
We're all brothers lousy and dirty
We're all free and equal to die like dogs”
“Every death even the cruelest death
drowns in the total indifference of Nature
Nature herself would watch unmoved
if we destroyed the entire human race
I hate Nature
this passionless spectator this unbreakable iceberg-face
that can bear everything
this goads us to greater and greater acts”
—
8 people liked it
More quotes…
drowns in the total indifference of Nature
Nature herself would watch unmoved
if we destroyed the entire human race
I hate Nature
this passionless spectator this unbreakable iceberg-face
that can bear everything
this goads us to greater and greater acts”
