a review of Push Production's revival in 2006

from: Denton, Martin (June 15, 2006). Marat/Sade. nytheatre.com. retrieved May 31, 2007 from http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/mara3560.htm

" . . . The year is 1808 and Napoleon is at the height of his power; through his story of Marat, de Sade explores the dangers of despotism and conformity—and through the interplay of the sensualist de Sade and the moralist Marat, Weiss delves even deeper into the same thematic territory. The genius of Weiss's concept is the layering of contemporary observations onto historical ones, so that the play-within-the-play's frequent railings against oppression and for liberty may be read as (a) inmates earnestly wishing for freedom from the repressive mental institution where they're imprisoned; (b) Marat's followers and opponents, playing out the issues of the French Revolution; (c) thinly veiled protests against Napoleon's regime; (d) thinly veiled protests against Hitler's and other recent (in 1964) fascist regimes; and even, in Kimmel's interpretation, (e) thinly veiled protests against policies of our current government.

Dec.1, 1999. "Civil Emergency" at the WTO in Seattle.

But the content of Marat/Sade, compelling though it is, is not even the half of this show. Weiss exploits his asylum setting to turn a theatre into a madhouse and a madhouse into a circus. This is the stuff of Brecht's epic theatre, and I wonder how jolting and exciting it might have been four decades ago when Brecht's work was still new and not so densely explored. Kimmel does an admirable job putting this show on its feet, but he can't surprise his audience the way that Peter Brook could when Marat/Sade premiered on Broadway, and that's a shame: in terms of structure and form, the play almost feels dated, its innovations and inventions having become so commonplace. . . . "