Actually the play is titled:
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
But for reasons of sheer laziness and delinquency amongst the arty classes, the title has been widely abbreviated to Marat/Sade.
Joking apart, we really liked this one. My log reads:
Very good. This was the Olivier “in the round” for renovations.
From memory, this was a reduced size of auditorium but with seating all around the stage, which worked very well for this play.production.
Jeremy Sams directed a fine cast including Anastasia Hille, Corin Redgrave, David Calder, Iain Mitchell and many others. The slightly bare Theatricalia entry can be found here.
Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard hated this production:
Marat Sade de Jongh Standard 15 May 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Paul Taylor in The Independent was more impressed, although he found the production “over-light”:
Marat Sade Taylor Indy 16 May 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Michael Billington, like Paul Taylor, speaks well of the production in The Guardian, but not too well:
Marat Sade Billington Guardian 15 May 1997, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer in The Telegraph hated this play/production:
Marat Sade Spencer Telegraph 19 May 1997, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
But we said “very good” which rather puts a stop to the debate on my Ogblog!
