Marat/Sade

Marat/Sade
Written byPeter Weiss
CharactersMarquis de Sade
Coulmier
Jean-Paul Marat
Simone Évrard
Charlotte Corday
Duperret
Jacques Roux
The Herald
Kokol
Polpoch
Cucurucu
Rossignol
MuteMme Coulmier
Mlle Coulmier
Male Nurses
Asylum inmates
Sisters
Musicians
Date premieredApril 29, 1964 (1964-04-29)
Place premieredSchillertheater, West Berlin, Germany
Original languageGerman
SubjectFrench Revolution, sado-masochism
GenreA play with music
SettingCharenton Asylum, France
1808

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 (German: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade), usually shortened to Marat/Sade (pronounced [ma.ʁa.sad]), is a play written in 1963 by Peter Weiss and fully staged for the first time the following year. The work was first published in German.

Incorporating dramatic elements characteristic of both Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht, it is a depiction of class struggle and human suffering that asks whether true revolution comes from changing society or changing oneself.