In Charenton Asylum, the Marquis de Sade directs a play about Jean Paul Marat's death, using the patients as actors. Based on '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', a 1963 play by Peter Weiss.
Direction
Peter Brook's staged insanity blurs performer, patient, and historical figure.
Acting
Glenda Jackson's Corday is terrifyingly committed; Patrick Magee's Sade drips intellectual menace.
Writing
Weiss's script weaponizes song and debate—Marat and Sade never actually share the stage.
Director
Peter Brook
Patrick Magee
Marquis de Sade
Ian Richardson
Jean-Paul Marat
Michael Williams
Herald
Clifford Rose
Monsieur Coulmier
Glenda Jackson
Charlotte Corday
Freddie Jones
Cucurucu
John Hussey
Newly Rich Lady
William Morgan Sheppard
A Mad Animal
Jonathan Burn
Polpoch
Robert Langdon Lloyd
Jacques Roux (as Robert Lloyd)
John Steiner
Monsieur Dupere
Henry Woolf
Father
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
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