Marat/Sade; too comic to be cruel
/
***(*)
Yes the Peter Brook production stands like the Colossus, intimidating all who dare stage this Weiss wonder. But snobbish superiority (one critic wrote of seeing the original at sixteen - firstly there is no way you can remember in any detail and secondly, I just don't believe you anyway) gets all too tiresome at times.
Perhaps Anthony Neilson includes too many of those post 9-11 references, and seemingly throws every sexual depravity and theatrical device at this RSC production. But Lisa Hammod's herald dwarf is strong and the obsessive masturbating of Duperret left some audience members looking at their feet...I've never laughed so much. The sisters, Coulmier and De Sade are also well defined but Marat and Corday gave me nothing. More spectacle than substance and too comic to be cruel.
Yes the Peter Brook production stands like the Colossus, intimidating all who dare stage this Weiss wonder. But snobbish superiority (one critic wrote of seeing the original at sixteen - firstly there is no way you can remember in any detail and secondly, I just don't believe you anyway) gets all too tiresome at times.
Perhaps Anthony Neilson includes too many of those post 9-11 references, and seemingly throws every sexual depravity and theatrical device at this RSC production. But Lisa Hammod's herald dwarf is strong and the obsessive masturbating of Duperret left some audience members looking at their feet...I've never laughed so much. The sisters, Coulmier and De Sade are also well defined but Marat and Corday gave me nothing. More spectacle than substance and too comic to be cruel.