Abstract
Ask even a relatively well-informed person in Britain to name several works by Peter Weiss, and the list is likely to stop at one play: Marat/Sade — or, to give it its full title, The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Theatre Group of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (Die Verfolgung und Erdmordung des Jean Paul Marat, dargestellet durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade, 1964). Weiss’s voluminous writing as a whole, which includes prose narrative as well as theatrical work, is virtually unknown in this country. Where, in the British theatrical repertoire, or even in general theatrical knowledge, are plays such as The Insurance (Die Versicherung, 1952), Night with Guests (Nacht mit Gästen, 1963), The Investigation (Die Ermittlung, 1965), Song of the Lusitanian Bogey (Gesang vom lusitanischen Popanz, 1967), How Mr Mockinpott was Relieved of his Sufferings (Wie dem Herrn Mockinpott das Leiden ausgetrieben wurde, 1968), Trotsky in Exile (Trotzki im Exil, 1970), or even the better-known Vietnam Discourse of 1968?
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Notes
Peter Weiss, ‘Author’s Note on the Historical Background to the Play’, The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, English version by Geoffrey Skelton, verse adaptation by Adrian Mitchell (London: Calder and Boyars, 1965) p. 112.
Peter Weiss, quoted from Encore, vol. 12 (1965)
in Ian Hilton, Peter Weiss: A Search for Affinities (London: Oswald Wolff, 1970) pp. 42–3
Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and its Double, trans. Victor Corti (London: Calder and Boyars, 1970).
J. C. Trewin, Peter Brook: A Biography (London: Macdonald, 1971) pp. 144–5.
Peter Weiss, Leavetaking and Vanishing Point (London: Calder and Boyars, 1964) p. 270.
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© 1994 The Editorial Board, Lumière Cooperative Press Ltd
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Holderness, G. (1994). Weiss/Brook: Marat/Sade. In: Docherty, B. (eds) Twentieth-Century European Drama. Insights. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23073-0_11
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