 Written by Peter Weiss and directed by Robert Seale
Today, with the after-effects of the 2008 financial meltdown, the Occupy & Arab Spring movements, the EU monetary crisis, and Canadian/American political polarization, the streets are full of those questioning authority. 50 years ago, Peter Weiss’s Tony Award-winning play Marat/Sade echoed the political turmoil of the 1960’s by harkening back to yet another tumultuous period in world history, the French Revolution. The dialectics of personal & political change are seen through the eyes of its two protagonists: the infamous Marquis de Sade, a proponent of pleasure through what later became known as “Sadism†and Jean-Paul Marat, the “voice of the people,†now awaiting assassination in his bathtub at the hands of the French counter-revolutionary Charlotte Corday. The play itself, an actual historical event, is performed in post-revolutionary France by the inmates of the asylum of Charenton. The director of the asylum and his family sit down expecting to see a patriotic display, but are instead confronted by a dilemma – the dilemma confronting revolutionary change in the 1790’s, in the 1960’s or in 2012: does true revolution come from changing society, or from changing oneself?
Ticket prices: $12, $10 for students and seniors; $7 for groups of 8 or more. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Acadia Box Office,
or at the door.
Christine Kendrick, Department of English & Theatre Coordinator, Acadia Theatre Company
585-1502 / christine.kendrick@acadiau.ca
Marat/Sade Nov 15-17 and 21-24
Antigone March 6-9 and 14-16
Minifest April 3-7
