MARAT/SADE by Peter Weiss
Directed by: Korais Damatis
VENUE: Theatre of the Society for Macedonian Studies
ΟPENING: 19th of November 2021
Suitable for ages 16+
Korais Damatis returns to the work more than thirty years after he directed it for the National Theatre of Greece in 1989. He will be taking a new approach this time round, enriched by the knowledge and experience he has gained in the interim and interpreted through the prism of the current political and social situation.
A few words about the play
Two important figures from 18th-century France, Jean Paul Marat and the Marquis de Sade, “meet” on stage in Peter Weiss’s play, whose full title is “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”, in a bizarre “play within a play”.
Peter Weiss drew on historical events to create a multifaceted play that works on multiple levels at once, employing the tools of political theatre in his own unique and imaginative way. In the work, Marat’s murder is directed by de Sade and presented in the Charenton bathhouse by inmates of the asylum. The three characters—de Sade, Marat and Corday—are fighting for freedom, a concept that means something different to each of them. Ultimately, how can the liberation of the people be achieved? Through revolution and a never-ending cycle of executions to eradicate those that exploit it? Through murdering the supposed liberators? Through heroic self-sacrifice or the ceaseless pursuit of personal pleasures? With the murder for a backdrop, the characters’ conflicting views generate an intense philosophical dialogue on stage, whose echoes are still audible today; the three protagonists confront us with the key issues on which we are forever being asked to take a stance: where the limits of freedom should lie, and how respect for the individual and the collective should interrelate.
Peter Weiss was born in Germany in 1916. He lived in Stockholm after 1939, taking Swedish citizenship. A politically-engaged writer, he was actively involved in politics, taking a clear stance through the public positions he adopted. “Marat/Sade” is the work that made him famous, primarily through Peter Brook’s outstanding theatre production, which was later made into a highly successful film. Clearly influenced by Brecht’s theatre, above all, but also the work of Artaud, he forged a personal style which can still make us rethink our certainties today.
Credits
Τranslation: Marios Ploritis, Direction-Movement: Korais Damatis, Sets: Andreas Varotsos, Costumes - Masks: Anna Machairianaki, Music: Dimitra Galani, Lighting: Stelios Tzolopoulos, Music Coaching: Chrysa Toumanidou, 1st Assistant to the Director: Antreas Koutsourelis, 2nd Assistant to the Director: Christoforos Mariadis, Assistant to the Set-Costume Designer: Danai Pana, Assistant Kinesiologist: Evanthia Sofronidou, Props: Chara Argyroudi, Assistant to the lighting designer: Stathis Froussos, Production Coordinator: Eva Koumandraki, Production Photography: Tasos Thomoglou, Graphic Design: Simoni Grigoroudi
Cast: Kostas Santas (Marquis de Sade), Dimitris Siakaras (Jean-Paul Marat), Anni Tsolakidou (Simonne Evrard), Marianna Pouregka (Charlotte Corday), Orestis Paliadelis (Duperret), Dimitris Morfakidis (Jacques Roux), Thanos Feretzelis (The Herald), Dimitris Tsilinikos (Coulmier), Giolanta Balaoura (Mme Coulmier), Aristotelis Zacharakis, Sofia Kalemkeridou, Nikos Kapelios, Nikos Kousoulis (Kokol, Polpoch, Cucurucu, Rossignol)
Asylum inmates:
Lefteris Angelakis, Loukia Vasileiou, Manos Galanis, Eleni Giannousi, Giannis Gkrezios, Lefteris Dimiropoulos, Stelios Kalaitzis, Giannis Karamfilis, Anastasia Rafaela Konidi, Christos Mastrogiannidis, Maria Benaki, Christos Ntaraktsis, Stavrianα Papadaki, Panagiotis Papaioannou, Katerina Sisinni, Evanthia Sofronidou, Foteini Timotheou, Nikos Tsoleridis
Extras:
Timos ΜcCoy Archontidis, Dimitris Danampasis, Evangelos Drougkas, Katerina Ziskata, Alexandros Kaltzidis, Nestoras Chrysovalantis, Theocharis Papadopoulos