[WCGS]: Film about theatre, revolution, democracy, and sanity at the University of Waterloo

[Sylvia Gilke]

Dear friends of Waterloo Arts,         

         The Waterloo Centre for German Studies would like to invite you 
to a diversified afternoon about the French Revolution, the complexity of 
theatre and questions about normality, democracy and self-discovery:        

          On 7 February 4.30pm, the Canadian artist Althea Thauberger 
will present her new project Marat Sade Bohnice at the University of 
Waterloo at Arts Lecture Hall 211.        

Marat Sade Bohnice is an experimental and documentary record of the 
performance of German author Peter Weiss’ play Marat/Sade at Bohnice, 
a psychiatric hospital in Prague.         

After an introduction to her interesting project, Althea Thauberger will 
show her film and discuss it with the audience. Snacks and drinks to follow 
with the opportunity to continue the conversation.         

The WCGS has supported this artistic project. Marat Sade Bohnice is 
currently shown at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery Toronto.        
 

         In the following you can find some information about Althea 
Thauberger’s film and project:         

         The original play Marat/Sade, that German author Peter Weiss 
published in 1963, is a play-within-a-play with the fiction that Marquis de 
Sade directed a play about the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat and staged 
it in the Charenton asylum in France in 1808, nineteen years after the 
beginning of the French Revolution. The actors are the inmates of the 
asylum who are mental patients or political prisoners. The play reveals an 
ongoing debate about whether the imperatives of revolution originate within 
the individual or within society as a whole.         

         As in the fictional play the historical Jean-Paul Marat, a French 
politician and a leading brain of the French revolution, was murdered by 
Charlotte Corday, an opponents’ sympathizer in 1793. Marquis de Sade, 
after whom sadism is named, was a French writer, philosopher and 
politician, known for his libertine sexuality. Most of his works combine 
philosophical thoughts with violent sexuality. De Sade was held prisoner in 
the Charenton lunatic asylum from 1801 until his death in 1814 and during 
this time he did indeed direct performances in the asylum with other 
inmates. In his play, Peter Weiss brought together two unconventionally 
thinking figures that could not be more different: Jean-Paul Marat, 
convinced revolutionary and adamant fighter for justice and equality among 
people and Marquis de Sade, cynic and disaffected follower of the French 
revolution, who satisfies his extremely hedonistic view of life with 
barbarity and brute sexuality. In the course of the play, Marquis de Sade 
conducts many philosophical dialogues with Jean-Paul Marat, which he 
follows with sardonic amusement.         

         Since the original play is set in the Charenton asylum’s 
bath house, Canadian artist Althea Thauberger staged the play Marat/Sade in 
the abandoned laundry facilities of Bohnice, the largest psychiatric 
hospital in the Czech Republic. In collaboration with the experimental 
theatre company Akanda, the play has been performed for the patients and 
staff of Bohnice as well as for general audiences over five nights and 
filmed by the artist. In so doing, Thauberger blurs the wall that generally 
separates the audience from the actors on stage.         

        Thauberger’s works are often developed in collaboration with 
the people depicted, offering the participants opportunities for 
self-exploration and self-definition. Her final works, usually films and/or 
photographs that record the collaborations, are remarkable documents that 
engage and surprise the audience.         

         Best wishes and looking forward to seeing you there        

Mat Schulze and Sylvia Gilke     
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