Marquis de Sade in Popular Culture - Plays

Plays

• The play by Peter Weiss 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, or Marat/Sade for short, is a fictional account of Sade directing a play in Charenton, where he was confined for many years. In the play, the Maquis de Sade is used as a cynical representative of the spirit of the senses. He debates Jean-Paul Marat who represents the spirit of revolution.
• The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima wrote a play titled Madame de Sade.
• The Canadian writer/actor Barry Yzereef wrote a play titled Sade, a one-man show set in Vincennes prison.
• Doug Wright wrote a play, Quills, a surreal account of the attempts of the Charenton governors to censor the Marquis' writing, which was adapted into the slightly less surreal film of the same name.
• La Fura dels Baus have toured worldwide their production, XXX, which is said to be based upon Sade's work and thoughts. The production has been met with criticism and controversy everywhere it has been shown.
• Lost Cherry Orchard is a dramatic performance by Czech theatre company Depressed Children Long for Money (Depresivní děti touží po penězích) based on Philosophy in the Bedroom by Sade and The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov suggesting that Mme Ranevskaya spent her years in Paris in the salon of Marquis de Sade and performed fifteen-year-old virgin Eugénie, the main character of Philosophy in the Bedroom. When her daughter Anya comes to Paris, Ranevskaya returns to Russia, taking all spectators with her (in the original Czech production in 2007 the technically demanding production included two remote sets (Paris and Siberia) and a train transport for cast and audience). After the end of the Chekhovian part, Mme Ranevskaya leaves Siberia to meet her French lover again, Marquis de Sade himself, leaving all the cast of The Cherry Orchard and all spectators in Russia. The performance combines the sadistic brutality of Philosophy in the Bedroom with the world of total losers of The Cherry Orchard.
• "Divine Marquis" is a play by John Phillips, based on recently discovered correspondence between the young marquis de Sade and his seventeen-year-old sister-in-law, Anne Prospère de Launay, detailing their love-affair and its repercussions. The play was staged at the Barons Court Theatre in London from 29 September to 18 October 2009.
• "The Marquis De Sade's JUSTINE", an opera libretto by Meron Langsner and Silvia Graziano, was given a staged reading at the Boston Playwrights Theatre on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2011 as a benefit for Fort Point Theatre Channel.