Editing Marat/Sade

{{About|Peter Weiss's stage play|Peter Brook and Adrian Mitchell's 1967 film adaptation|Marat/Sade (film)}}{{Short description|1964 play by Peter Weiss}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Marat/Sade
| image      = MaratSadePlayCover.jpg
| image_alt  = 
| caption    = 
| writer     = [[Peter Weiss]]
| chorus     = 
| characters = [[Marquis de Sade]]<br>[[Abbé de Coulmier|Coulmier]]<br>[[Jean-Paul Marat]]<br>Simone Évrard<br>[[Charlotte Corday]]<br>Duperret<br>[[Jacques Roux]]<br>The Herald<br>Kokol<br>Polpoch<br>Cucurucu<br>Rossignol 
| mute       = Mme Coulmier<br>Mlle Coulmier<br>Male Nurses<br>Asylum inmates<br>Sisters<br>Musicians
| setting    = {{nowrap|[[Charenton (asylum)|Charenton Asylum]], France<br>1808}}
| premiere   = {{Start date|1964|04|29}}
| place      = Schillertheater, [[West Berlin]], Germany
| orig_lang  = German
| series     = 
| subject    = [[French Revolution]], [[sado-masochism]]
| genre      = A play with music
| web        = 
}}
'''''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''''' ({{langx|de|Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade}}), usually shortened to '''''Marat/Sade''''' ({{IPA|fr|ma.ʁa.sad|pron}}), is a 1963 play by [[Peter Weiss]]. The work was first published in German.

Incorporating dramatic elements characteristic of both [[Antonin Artaud]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]], it is a depiction of class struggle and human suffering that asks whether true revolution comes from changing society or changing oneself.

==Plot==
Set in the historical [[Charenton (asylum)|Charenton Asylum]], ''Marat/Sade'' is almost entirely a "[[play within a play]]". The main story takes place on 13 July 1808; the play directed by the [[Marquis de Sade]] within the story takes place 15 years earlier, during the [[French Revolution]], culminating in the assassination (13 July 1793) of [[Jean-Paul Marat]], then quickly brings the audience up to date (1808). The actors are the inmates of the asylum; the nurses and supervisors occasionally step in to restore order. The [[bourgeois]] director of the hospital, [[Abbé de Coulmier|Coulmier]], supervises the performance, accompanied by his wife and daughter. He is a supporter of the [[First French Empire|post-revolutionary government]] led by [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]], in place at the time of the production, and believes the play he has organised to be an endorsement of his patriotic views. His patients, however, have other ideas, and they make a habit of speaking lines he had attempted to suppress, or deviating entirely into personal opinion. Having come out of the revolution no better than they went in, the inmates are not entirely pleased with the course of events as they occurred.

The Marquis de Sade, the man after whom [[Sadism and Masochism|sadism]] is named, did indeed direct performances in Charenton with other inmates there, encouraged by Coulmier. De Sade is a main character in the play, conducting many philosophical dialogues with Marat and observing the proceedings with sardonic amusement. He remains detached and cares little for practical politics and the inmates' talk of right and justice; he simply stands by as an observer and an advocate of his own [[nihilism|nihilistic]] and [[individualism|individualist]] beliefs.

==Musical score==
''Marat/Sade'' is a play with music. The use of music follows the approach of Brecht, whereby the songs comment on themes and issues of the play. Unlike a traditional musical format, the songs do not further the plot or expositional development of character in the play. By contrast they often add an [[alienation effect]], interrupting the action of the play and offering historical, social and political commentary. [[Richard Peaslee]] composed music for the original English-language production of ''Marat/Sade'' directed by [[Peter Brook]]. Although there is no official score to the play in any language, the success of the Brook-directed [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] production and film made the Peaslee score popular for English-language productions. Sections of the Peaslee score have been included in trade copies of the [[Geoffrey Skelton]]/[[Adrian Mitchell]] English version (based on the text used for the Royal Shakespeare Company productions). The full score is available from ECS Publishing/Galaxy Music Corporation. The original Royal Shakespeare Company production was so popular that folk singer [[Judy Collins]] recorded a medley of songs from the show on her album ''[[In My Life (Judy Collins album)|In My Life]]''.

[[File:Marat Sade at UCSD 2005.jpg|thumb|250px|''Marat/Sade'' production at the [[University of California, San Diego]], 2005, directed by Stefan Novinski]]
[[File:Peter Weiss' Marat Sade at SUNY 2008.jpg|thumb|250px|''Marat/Sade'' production at the [[State University of New York at Fredonia]], 2008, directed by James Ivey]]
[[File:Marat-sade-note01.jpg|thumb|250px|''Marat/Sade'' production at the [[Theatre of NOTE]], 2000, directed by [[Brad Mays]]]]
[[File:Hôpital Esquirol.JPG|thumb|250px|''Marat/Sade'' is set at later mental home "Hôpital Esquirol" in present-day [[Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne|Saint-Maurice]]]]

Recordings of the songs were made by the cast of the original Royal Shakespeare Company production and film. The first recording of the show was a three-LP set released in 1964 by [[Caedmon Records]]. This was a complete audio recording of the original London production. The second release was a single [[soundtrack album]] LP of the film score, released by Caedmon/[[United Artists Records]].

The third release was a CD compilation of two 1966 Brook/Peaslee Royal Shakespeare Company productions: ''Marat/Sade and [[US (play)|US]]'', released by Premier Recordings. The songs included on this 1992 CD were:

# Homage to Marat
# The Corday Waltz
# Song and Mime of Corday's Arrival in Paris
# The People's Reaction
# Those Fat Monkeys
# Poor Old Marat
# One Day It Will Come to Pass
# Poor Marat in Your Bathtub Seat
# Poor Old Marat (Reprise)
# Copulation Round
# Fifteen Glorious Years (interpolating the "[[La Marseillaise|Marseillaise]]")
# Finale

This track listing omits Royal Anthem (which appears on all other recordings) and does not specifically mention The Tumbrel Song either individually or as a part of Song and Mime of Corday's Arrival in Paris. The cast of this recording includes [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]], [[Glenda Jackson]] and [[Freddie Jones]]. (The accompanying production, ''US'', is about an American soldier "zappin' the [Viet] [[Vietcong|Cong]]" in the [[Vietnam War]].)

==Productions==
In 1964 the play was translated by Geoffrey Skelton with lyric adaptation by Adrian Mitchell and staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Peter Brook directed a cast that included [[Ian Richardson]] as the herald, [[Clive Revill]] as Marat, [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]] as de Sade and [[Glenda Jackson]] as [[Charlotte Corday]].

After two previews, the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production opened on 27 December 1965 at the [[Martin Beck Theatre]] and ran for 145 performances. Richardson took over the role of Marat, while Magee and Jackson reprised the roles they had originated in [[London]].

The play won the [[Tony Award for Best Play]], and Brook was named [[Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play|Best Director]]. Additional awards went to Magee for [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play|Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play]] and [[Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss]] for her [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design|Costume Design]]. Jackson lost the [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play]] to [[Zoe Caldwell]]. It also won the 1966 [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award for Best Play.

In Australia, the play was directed by [[Edgar Metcalfe]] in 1966 at the [[the Playhouse Theatre (Perth)|Playhouse Theatre]] in [[Perth]]. It played for six weeks. The cast included Alan Lander as Marat and Eileen Colocott as Charlotte Corday. Other cast members included [[Peter Collingwood]] as the Marquis de Sade, James Beattie, Rosemary Barr, Peter Morris, Chris Johnson, Ken Gregory and Roland Rocchiccioli. The set was designed by Ted Dombowski.

==Other notable productions==
* The first production, following the opening on Broadway in 1965, was presented in the summer of 1966 at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  It was the first play in a four play season for Missouri Reperatory Theatre.  The production was directed by Dr. Patricia McIlrath, and playing the lead, Marat was Joeseph Brockett.
*In 1967, Clayton Garrison's production for Irvine Repertory Theatre featured actors [[Bob Gunton]] and [[Robert Cohen (playwright)|Robert Cohen]] along with [[Oakley Hall III]]. Cohen later edited the 1998 publication of the play.<ref>{{cite news |title=UC Irvine to Stage Marat-Sade Drama |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 2, 1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Peter |title=Marat/Sade |date=1998 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=9780826409621}}</ref>
* In October 1969 the Virginia Museum Theater (VMT) opened its season with the play directed by  [[Keith Fowler]], the new artistic director of the company. He established the first [[League of Resident Theatres|LORT]] company in Richmond and led VMTRep (as it became known) to a period of national and international acclaim.<ref>{{cite news|first=Carole|last=Kass|title=Play Prompts Praise...|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|publisher=[[Berkshire Hathaway]]|location=Richmond, Virginia|date=February 9, 1975}}</ref> ''Marat/Sade'' was produced with the first racially integrated cast in VMT's history, and this generated controversy: the two major Richmond newspapers published "rave reviews" of the show, and the editor of the afternoon paper, the ''[[The Richmond News Leader|News Leader]]'', attacked the production fiercely for evincing "[[latitudinarianism]]."<ref>"The Thing at the Museum", ''Richmond News Leader'', October 10, 1969.</ref>     
* In 2006 The Blue House Theater Company presented ''Marat/Sade'' at the Sacred Fools theater in Los Angeles. The production was directed by [[Patrick J. Adams]] with an original score by Joshua Charney. It won an ''LA Weekly'' Theater Award for production of the year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcg.org/publications/at/awards_listing.cfm?ID=5&vbyear=9|title=Theatre Awards Listings|website=www.tcg.org|access-date=2016-06-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804051959/https://www.tcg.org/publications/at/awards_listing.cfm?ID=5&vbyear=9|archive-date=2016-08-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-01-et-stage1-story.html|title='Corpus Christi' makes its point|last=Miller|first=David C. Nichols; Daryl H.|date=2006-09-01|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|issn=0458-3035|access-date=2016-06-01}}</ref>
* An all-male production of the play was presented in 2007 at the [[Classical Theatre of Harlem]] in New York, under the direction of [[Christopher McElroen]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/theater/reviews/21mara.html|work=The New York Times|title=Testing the Limits and Cost of Revolution|first=Anne|last=Midgette|date=February 21, 2007}}</ref>
* In 2011 the Royal Shakespeare Company staged a revival of the play as part of the company's 50th anniversary celebrations. The revival was directed by [[Anthony Neilson]] and ran from 14 October to 11 November.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/marat-sade/ |title=Marat / Sade |publisher=RSC |date=2011-11-05 |access-date=2012-02-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228130717/https://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/marat-sade/ |archive-date=2011-12-28 }}</ref>
* American composer [[Mary McCarty Snow]] (1928–2012) composed music for a Texas Tech University production of ''Marat/Sade''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashby |first=Sylvia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nz47hRZieHUC&dq=mary+snow+composer&pg=PR6 |title=Shining Princess of the Slender Bamboo |date=1976 |publisher=I. E. Clark Publications |isbn=978-0-88680-266-0 |language=en}}</ref>
* In 2012, the play was staged at Brava Theatre in San Francisco, produced by [[Marc Huestis]] and directed by Russell Blackwood with his company Thrillpeddlers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Marat-Sade-revival-at-S-F-s-Brava-Theatre-3703375.php | title = 'Marat/Sade' revival at S.F.'s Brava Theatre | author = Chad Jones | date = July 12, 2022}}</ref>

==Film adaptation==
<!-- [[Image:MaratSadeDVD.jpg|right|thumb|150px|DVD cover.]] -->
{{Main|Marat/Sade (film)}}
The 1967 film adaptation featured many of the original players from the American production. The long version of the play's title is shown in the film's opening credits, although this was frequently shortened to ''Marat/Sade'' in publicity materials. The [[screenplay]] was written by Adrian Mitchell and directed by Peter Brook. The cast included Richardson, Magee, Jackson, Jones, and [[Clifford Rose]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4581168-1.html |title=Variety review of the film |publisher=Allbusiness.com |date=2007-02-20 |access-date=2012-02-01}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Madah-Sartre]]'', a play by Alek Baylee Toumi, inspired by ''Marat/Sade''

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book | last=Weiss | first=Peter | title=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 | edition=First | location=London | publisher=John Calder | year=1964 | isbn=9780871295071 | oclc=229125614}}

==External links==
* {{IBDB show|7041|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}}

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{{TonyAwardBestPlay 1947-1975|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marat Sade}}
[[Category:1963 plays]]
[[Category:Broadway plays]]
[[Category:German plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:Metafictional plays]]
[[Category:Plays set in the 1800s]]
[[Category:Plays set in France]]
[[Category:Tony Award–winning plays]]
[[Category:Works by Peter Weiss]]
[[Category:Works about the Marquis de Sade]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Jean-Paul Marat]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Charlotte Corday]]
[[Category:Self-reflexive plays]]
[[Category:Works set in psychiatric hospitals]]