before Weiss became somewhat obsessed with Brecht... influences on his earlier dramatic ideas

From David Roberts' essay "Peter Weiss, 'Marat/Sade' and the Revolution in the Theatre" (published in 1969 in Komos: A Quarterly of Drama and Arts of the Theatre):
"The connexion between Weiss and Artaud is not simply Peter Brook's, in fact Weiss’s interest in Artaud is much older than his interest in Brecht, who is a surprisingly late influence on him, though now perhaps the most important as Weiss continues his studies of the classics, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. His latest play, the documentary on Vietnam,he describes as strictly Marxist […]. Weiss’s interest in Strindberg, whom he has translated, his acknowledgement of the importance of Artaud’s theatre manifesto of 1933*, his admiration and indebtedness to the surrealist cinema – especially Bunuel and Vigo – confirm that he was originally instinctively drawn to a fantasy world of violence and dream, as his early play, Die Versicherung (The Insurance), written in 1952 but only published in 1967, makes clear. The Insurance is a spectacle of sex and sadism, absurd, obscene, anarchic – its refrain is ‘catastrophes, revolutions’ – presented as a series of film-like sequences (it was originally intended as a film scenario). The first scene, for instance, very soon turns into an orgy, the second shows an operation during which all present undress, the sixth has one of the figures sitting in a bath. When he climbs out his body is seen to be covered with red hair. The scene ends with him howling to the dogs outside.” (emphasis mine)
*This claim (and the one made earlier about Artaud) is unfortunately not supported by any direct evidence, though we can acknowledge the Artaudian influence on The Insurance (note: this is of course Roberts’ description) and even to some extent Marat/Sade, as has been noted (though I’m still not totally sold on it – the play relies too much on language and I think that though there may be some hints of Artaudian influence there, they are distant and possible unintentional – also I am frustrated that many people seem simply to link Marat/Sade with Artuad because it features lunatics – but that’s just my two cents!)