Ever since reading the script in high school, I'd always wanted to see a fully staged production of Marat/Sade. One week ago today I found out for certain that I'd get something like halfway to reaching that goal this coming March. While at interACT I'd run into World's Stage Theatre's Gretchen Mahkorn, she'd mentioned that she was working with Pink Banana Theatre's Matt Kemple on a staged reading of the drama.
Written by Peter Weiss, 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) is the story of a play being directed by de Sade in a mental institution. There's a lot going on in the story on both a political and philosophical level that has a great deal to say about a great many things. And though a stage reading isn't going to quite cover the full reality of the script, it's nice to know that a couple of theatre companies are bringing some manifestation of it to the stage next month.
Pink Banana Theatre/World's Stage's staged reading of Marat/Sade runs March 8th and 9th at the Underground Collaborative on 161 West Wisconsin Avenue. As the show hasn't quite been formally announced, I would imagine dates are subject to change.
