vintage 60s living room

as director of the clinic of charenton... ...i should like to welcome youto this salon. to one of our residents a vote ofthanks is due monsieur de sade... ...who wrote and has produced this play for yourdelectation and for our patients' rehabilitation. we ask your kindly indulgence for a castnever on stage before coming to charenton... ...but each inmate, i can assure you,will try to pull his weight. we're modern, enlightened andwe don't agree with locking up patients. we prefer therapy througheducation and especially art... ...so that our hospital may play its part faithfully followingaccording to our lights the declaration of human rights.

i agree with our author, monsieur de sade,that his play set in our modern bath house... ...would be marred by all these instrumentsfor mental and physical hygiene. quite on the contrary,they set the scene... ...for in monsieur de sade's play, he hastried to show how jean-paul marat died... ...and how he waited in his bath beforecharlotte corday came knocking at his door. subtitles by banquo distinguished visitors, let us go backto the france of fifteen years ago. recall the greatest shockof modern times... ...those golden victories,those scarlet crimes.

the force that shatteredevery institution... ...that global earthquake,the french revolution! none of us knew a revolutionarymore passionate then marat. but was he the people's friend,or freedom's enemy? a writer of books with hope... ...or the most viciousbutcher of his age? marat the good or bad?the choice is hard. let us hear maratdebating with de sade. two champions wrestlingwith each others' views.

how do we judge the winner?you must chose. here is marat,back from the death. he wears a bandagearound his head. his flesh burns,it is yellow as cheese... ...because disfigured by a skin disease. and only watercooling every limb... ...prevents his feverfrom consuming him. to act this weighty role,we chose a lucky paranoic. one of those who've made unprecedented stridessince we introduced them to hydrotherapy.

this one was with himto the very end. simonne evrard,his dogged lady friend. here's charlotte corday,waiting for her entry. a country girl,her family landed gentry. unfortunately the girl who plays the rolehere has sleeping sickness, also melancholia. our hope must be for this afflicted soulthat she does not forget her role. her friend is monsieur duperret,you'll note his upperclass toupee. this actor's good,though subdued to attacks... ...one of our brightest sexual maniacs.

jailed for taking a radical viewof anything you can name... ...a former priest,jacques roux. ally of marat's revolution... ...but unfortunately the censor's cutmost of his rabble-rousing theme. our moral guardiansfound it too extreme. - i...- ah! ah! and now our vocalists:cucurucu... ...polpoch... ...kokol...

...and on the streets no longer,rossignol. now meet this gentlemanfrom high society... ...who under the lurid star of notorietycame to live with us just five years ago. it's to his geniusthat we owe this show. the former marquis, monsieur de sade... ...whose books were banned,his essays barred... ...while he's been persecutedand reviled... ...thrown into jail andfor some years exiled. the introduction's over, now the playof jean-paul marat can get under way.

tonight the date is the thirteenthof july eighteen-o-eight. and on this night,our cast intend... ...showing how fifteen years ago... ...night without endfell on this man... ...this invalid. and you are goingto see him bleed... ...and see this woman,after careful thought... ...take up the daggerand cut him short. homage to marat!

four years after the revolutionand the old king's execution... four years after, remember howthose courtiers took their final bow... string up every aristocrat... out with the priests,let them live on their fat... four years after we started fighting,marat keeps on with his writing... four years after the bastille fell,he still recalls the old battle yell... down with all of the ruling class... throw all the generalsout on their arse... long live the revolution!

marat, we won't digour own bloody graves! marat, we've gotto be clothed and fed! marat, we're sick of working like slaves! marat, we've got tohave cheaper bread! we crown you with these leaves, marat,because of the laurel shortage. the laurels all went to decorateacademics, generals and heads of state. and their heads are enormous. good old marat...by your side we'll stand or fall... you're the only onethat we can trust at all...

don't scratch your scabs,or they'll never get any better. four years he foughtand he fought unafraid... sniffing down traitors,by traitors betrayed... marat in the courtroom,marat underground... sometimes the otterand sometimes the hound... fighting all the gentryand fighting every priest... businessman, the bourgeois,the military beast... marat always readyto stifle every scheme... of the sons of the arse-lickingdying regime...

we've got new generals,our leaders are new... they sit and they argueand all that they do... is sell their own colleaguesand ride on their backs... and jail them, and break them,or give them all the axe... screaming in languagethat no one understands... of rights that we grabbedwith our own bleeding hands... when we wiped out the bossesand stormed through the wall... of the prison they told uswould outlast us all... marat, we're poorand the poor stay poor...

marat, don't makeus wait anymore... we want our rightsand we don't care how... we want our revolution... now... the revolution... ...came and went... ...and unrest was replacedby discontent. who controls the markets?who locks up the granaries? who got the lootfrom the palaces?

who sits tight on the estates that weregoing to be divided between the poor? who keeps us prisoner? who locks us in? we're all normaland we want our freedom. - freedom.- freedom. freedom. freedom. monsieur de sade. it appears i must actas the voice of reason. what's going to happen when right at the startof the play the patients are so disturbed?

please keep your productionunder control. times have changed,times are different... ...and these days we should takean objective view of old grievances. they are... uh...part of history. and history, i might add... ...history is not simply the story ofthe undisciplined common people. let us consider, instead,true history:.. ...the exemplary lives of the menwho made france great. here sits marat,the people's choice...

...dreaming and listeningto his fever's voice. you see his handcurled round his pen... ...and the screams fromthe street are all forgotten. he stares at the map of france,eyes marching from town to town... ...while you wait... corday, corday. corday! ...while you wait for this womanto cut him down. and none of us...

and none of us can alter the fact,do what we will... ...that she stands outside marat's door... ...ready and poised to kill. poor... ...marat... ...in your bathtub, your bodysoaked saturated with poison. poison spurtingfrom your hiding place... ...poisoning the people, arousing themto looting and murder. marat...

...i have come, i,charlotte corday, from caen... ...where a huge armyof liberation is massing... ...and, marat, i comeas the first of them... ...marat. once both of us sawthe world must go... and change as we readin great rousseau... but change meantone thing to you i see... and something quite different to me... the very same wordswe both have said...

to give our idealswings to spread... but my way was true... while for you... the highway led overmountains of dead... once both of us spokea single tongue... of brotherly lovewe sweetly sung... but love meantone thing to you i see... but now i'm awarethat i was blind... and now i can seeinto your mind...

and so i say no... ...and i goto murder you, marat... and free all mankind... simonne! more cold water. change my bandage.oh, this itching is unbearable. jean-paul, don't scratch yourself,you'll tear your skin to shreds... ...give up writing, jean-paul,it won't do any good. my call. my fourteenth of july callto the people of france. jean-paul, please be more careful,look how red the water's getting.

and what's a bath full of bloodcompared to the bloodbaths still to come? once we thought a few hundredcorpses would be enough... ...then we saw thousandswere still too few... ...and today we can'teven count all the dead. are there any ofour enemies left anywhere? everywhere,everywhere you look. there they are. up on the rooftops.down in the cellars. behind the walls. hypocrites! they wear the people's cap on their heads,but their underwear's embroidered with crowns... ...and if so much as a shop gets lootedthey squeal: "beggars, villains, gutter rats!"

simonne, my head's on fire.i can't breathe. there is a rioting mob inside me. i am the revolution. corday's first visit. i have come to speakto citizen marat. i have an important message for himabout the situation in caen, my home... ...where his enemies are gathering. we don't want any visitors. nous voulons la paix.

if you've got anythingto say to marat... ...put it in writing. what i have to saycannot be said in writing. i... ...want... ...to stand... ...in front of him and... ...look at him.i want... ...to see his body trembleand his forehead...

...bubble with sweat. i want to thrust rightbetween his ribs... ...the dagger which i carrybetween my breasts. i shall... ...take the dagger... ...in both hands and... ...push it... ...through his flesh,and then i shall hear... ...what he has to say...

...to me. not yet, corday. you must come tohis door three times. song and mime ofcorday's arrival in paris! charlotte cordaycame to our town... heard the people talking,saw the banners wave... weariness had almostdragged her down... weariness had dragged her down... charlotte corday had to be brave...

she could never stayat comfortable hotels... had to find a manwith knives to sell... had to find a man with knives... charlotte cordaypassed the pretty stores... perfume and cosmetics,powders and wigs... unguent for curing syphilis sores... unguent for curing sores... she saw a dagger... its handle was white...

walked into the cutlery seller's door... when she saw the dagger,the dagger was bright... charlotte saw the dagger was bright... when the man asked her:"who is it for..?" it is common knowledgeto each one of you... charlotte smiled andpaid him his forty sous... charlotte smiledand paid forty sous... charlotte corday walked alone... paris birds sang sugar calls...

charlotte walked downlanes of stone... through the hazefrom perfume stalls... charlotte smelt the dead's gangrene... heard the singing guillotine... don't soil your pretty little shoes... the gutter's deep and red... climb up, climb up,and ride along with me... the tumbrel driver said... but she never said a word...

never turned her head... don't soil your pretty little pants... i only go one way... there's no gold coach today... what kind of town is this? the sun can hardly pierce the haze,not... ...a haze made out of rain and fog,but... ...steaming thick and hotlike the mist in a slaughterhouse. why are they howling?

what are they draggingthrough the streets? they carry stakes, but what'simpaled on those stakes? why do they hop?what are they dancing for? why are they racked with laughter?why do the children scream? what are those heaps they fight over,those... ...heaps with eyes and mouths? what kind of town is this... ...hacked buttockslying in the street? what are all these faces?soon...

...these faces will close around me. these eyes and mouths will call me... ...to join them! now it's happening andyou can't stop it happening. the people used to suffer everything,now they take their revenge. you are watching that revenge, and you don'tremember that you drove the people to it. now you protest, but it's too lateto start crying over spilt blood. what is the blood of these aristocrats comparedwith the blood the people shed for you? many of them had their throatsslit by your gangs.

many of them died more slowlyin your workshops. so what is this sacrifice compared with thesacrifices the people made to keep you fat? what are a few looted mansionscompared with their looted lives? you don't care... ...if the foreign armies with whom you're makingsecret deals march in and massacre the people. you hope the people will be wiped out,so you can flourish... ...and when they are wiped out, not a musclewill twitch in your puffy bourgeois faces... ...which are now all twisted upwith anger and disgust. monsieur de sade,we can't allow this...

...you really can't call this education. it isn't making my patients any better,they're all becoming over-excited. after all, we invited the public here to showthem that our patients are not all social lepers. we only show these people massacred,because this indisputably occurred. please calmly watch these barbarous displayswhich could not happen nowadays. the men of that time mostly now demisedwere primitive, we are more civilised. the execution of the aristocrats. look at them, marat... ...these men who onceowned everything.

now that their pleasureshave been taken away... ...the guillotine saves themfrom endless boredom. gaily they offer their headsas if for coronation. is not that the pinnacleof perversion? the execution of the king! conversation concerninglife and death. i read in your books, de sade,in one of your immortal works... ...that the animating forceof nature is destruction... ...and that our only instrumentfor measuring life is death.

correct, marat. but man has givena false importance to death. any animal, plant or man that diesadds to nature's compost heap... ...becomes the manure without whichnothing could grow, nothing could be created. death is simply part of the process. every death,even the cruellest death... ...drowns in the totalindifference of nature. nature would watch unmoved... ...if we destroyed the entire human race.

i hate nature... ...this passionless spectator, this unbreakableiceberg-face that can bear everything... ...this goads us to greaterand greater acts. but though i hate this goddess... ...i see that the greatest actsin history have followed her laws. nature teaches a man to fightfor his own happiness. and if he must killto gain, that happens... ...while then the murder is natural. haven't we always crushed downthose weaker than ourselves?

haven't we torn at their throatswith continuous villainy and lust? haven't we experimented in our laboratoriesbefore applying the final solution? man is a destroyer. but if he kills and takes no pleasurein it, he's a machine. he should destroy with passion,like a man. let me remind you ofthe execution of damiens... ...after his unsuccessful attemptto assassinate louis the fifteenth. remember how damiens died? how gentle the guillotine iscompared with his torture?

it lasted four hourswhile the crowd goggled... ...and casanova at an upper windowfelt under the skirts of the ladies watching. his chest, arms, thighsand calves were slit open. molten lead waspoured into each slit... ...boiling oil they poured over him,burning wax, sulphur. they burnt off his hands... ...they tied ropes tohis arms and to his legs... ...and harnessed him to four horsesand geed them up. they pulled at him for an hour...

...but they'd never done it before,and he wouldn't... ...come apart... ...until they sawed throughhis shoulders and hips. so he lost the first arm,and then the second arm... ...and he watchedwhat they did to him... ...and then he turned to us, and he shouted outso that everyone could understand. and when he lost the first legand then the second leg... ...he still lived. and in the end, he hung there,a bloody torso with a nodding head...

...just groaning... ...and staring at the crucifix whichthe father confessor held up to him. that... ...was a festival... ...with which today'sfestivals can't compete. even our inquisitionhas no meaning nowadays. now they are all official. we condemn to deathwithout emotion... ...and there's no singular,personal death to be had...

...only an anonymous, cheapened deathwhich we could dole out to entire nations... ...on a mathematical basis... ...until the time comes for all lifeto be extinguished. citizen marquis... ...you may sit as a judgein our tribunals... ...you may have fought with us last september when we draggedout of the gaols the aristocrats who were plotting against us... ...but you still talk like a grand seigneur... ...and what you call the indifference of natureis your own lack of compassion. compassion, marat, is the propertyof the privileged classes.

when the giver bends to the beggar,he throbs with contempt. to protect his riches,he pretends to be moved... ...and his gift to the beggaris no more than a kick. no, no, marat,no small emotions please. your feelings were never petty. for you, just as for me... ...only the most extremeactions matter. if i am extreme, i am not extremein the same way as you. against nature's silence,i use action.

in the vast indifference,i invent a meaning. i don't watch unmoved,i intervene... ...and i say that thisand this are wrong... ...and i work to alter them andto improve them, because the impo... the important thing is to pullyourself up by your own hair... ...to turn yourself inside out... ...and see the whole worldwith fresh eyes. marat's liturgy. remember how it used to be.

the kings were our dear fathersunder whose care we lived in peace... ...and their deeds were glorifiedby official poets. piously the simpleminded breadwinnerspassed on the lesson to their children. the kings are our dear fathers... ...under whose care we live in peace. and the childrenrepeated the lesson. suffer! suffer as he suffered on the crossfor it is the will of god. and anyone believes whatthey hear over and over again...

...and so the poor, instead of bread, made do with apicture of the bleeding, scourged and nailed-up christ... ...and prayed to that imageof their helplessness. and the priests said:.. ..."raise your hands to heaven,bend your knees..." "...bear your suffering without complaint.pray for those who torture you..." "...for prayer and blessing are the only ladderwhich you can climb to paradise!" and so they chained downthe poor in their ignorance... ...so that they couldn't stand upand fight their bosses... ...who ruled in the nameof the lie of divine right.

monsieur de sade! i must interrupt this argument. we agreed to makesome cuts in this passage. after all, nobody now objects to the church, sinceour emperor is surrounded by high-ranking clergy... ...and since it's been proved over and over againthat the poor need the spiritual comfort of the priests. there's no questionof anyone being oppressed. quite on the contrary, everything'sdone to relieve suffering with... uh... ...clothing collections... uh... medical aidand... uh... soup kitchens... ...and in this very clinic, we're dependent on thegoodwill, not only of the temporal government...

...but even more on the goodnessand understanding of the church... ...and particularly of our friend,monsieur laday, eh? if our performance causes aggravation... ...we hope you'll swallow downyour indignation... ...and please remember that we showonly those things that happened long ago. remember things werevery different then... ...of course, todaywe're all god-fearing men. pray! pray!o pray to him!

our satan who art in hell... ...our lord be thy name. thy kingdom comeon earth as it is in hell. forgive us our good deedsand deliver us from holiness. lead us... lead us into temptation... ...over and over. amen. the regrettable incidentyou've just seen was unavoidable...

...indeed foreseen by our playwright... ...who managed to compose theseextra lines in case the need arose. please understand... ...this man was once the verywell-thought-of abbot of a monastery. it should remind us allthat as they say... ...god moves like a manin a mysterious way. before deciding what is rightand what is wrong... ...first we must find outwhat we are. i do not know myself.

no sooner have i discovered somethingthan i begin to doubt it... ...and i have to destroy it again. what we do is just a shadowof what we want to do... ...and the only truths we can point to arethe ever-changing truths of our own experience. i don't know if i'm hangman... ...or victim... ...for i imagine the most horrible tortures... ...and as i describe them,i suffer them myself. there's nothing i could not do...

...and everything fills mewith horror. and i see that other people, too,turn themselves into strangers... ...and are capable of unpredictable acts. a little time ago,i saw my tailor... ...a gentle, cultured manwho liked to talk philosophy. i saw him foam at the mouthand screaming with rage... ...attack a man from switzerland. a large man heavily armed. and destroy him utterly.

and then i saw him tear openthe breast of the defeated man... ...take out his still beating heart... ...and swallow it. a mad animal. man's a mad animal. i'm a thousand years old and in my timei've helped commit a million murders. the earth is spread... the earth is spread thickwith squashed human guts. we few survivors...

...walk over a quaking bog of corpses. always under our feet,every step we take... ...rotted bones, ashes, matted hairunder our feet... ...broken teeth,skulls split open. i'm a mad animal. prisons don't help.chains don't help. i escape... ...through all the walls... ...through all the slimeand the splintered bones.

you'll see it all one day. i'm not through yet. i have plans. we invented... we invented the revolution... ...but we didn't knowhow to run it. look... ...everyone wants to keepsomething from the past. a souvenir of the old regime.

so this man decides to keep a painting,this man keeps his mistress... ...this man keeps his horse,this man keeps his garden. that man keeps his farmlands,that man keeps his house in the country... ...that man keeps his factories, that mancouldn't bear to part with his shipyards. that man keeps his army... ...and that one keeps his king. and so we sit here... ...and write into the declarationof the rights of man... ...the sanctity of private property.

and now we'll seewhere that leads. every man's equally free to fight... ...fraternally and withequal arms, of course. every man his own millionaire. man against man,group against group... ...in happy mutual robbery. and we... ...sit here more oppressedthan when we begun... ...and they think thatthe revolution's been won?

the people's reaction. why do they have the gold and... why do they have the power... why, why, why, why, why... ...do they have the friendsat the top..? why do they havethe jobs at the top..? we've got nothing,always had nothing... nothing but holes andmillions of them... living in holes, dying in holes...

holes in our bellies andholes in our clothes... marat, we're poor... and the poor stay poor... we want our revolution now... observe how easilya crowd turns mob... ...through ignoranceof its wise ruler's job. rather than bang an emptydrum of protest... ...citizens be dumb. work for and trustthe powerful few...

...what's best for themis best for you. ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to seepeople and government in harmony... ...a harmony which i should saywe've very nearly reached today. and now nobility meets grace. our author brings themface to face. the beautiful and bravecharlotte corday. the handsome monsieur duperret. in caen where she spentthe best years of her youth... ...in a convent devotedto the way of truth...

...duperret's nameshe heard them recommend... ...as a most sympathetichelpful friend. confine your passionto the lady's mind. your love's platonic,not the other kind. ah, dearest duperret,what can we do? how can we stopthis terrible calamity? in the streets, everyone is sayingmarat's to be tribune and dictator. still he pretends his iron grip willrelax as soon as the worst is over. but we know whatmarat really wants:..

...anarchy and confusion. dearest charlotte,you must return... ...return to your friends the pious nunsand live in prayer and contemplation. you cannot fight the hard-facedenemies surrounding us. you talk about marat,but who is this marat? a street salesman,a funfair barker... ...a layabout from corsica. sorry, i mean sardinia. marat?

the name sounds jewish to me. perhaps derived from the watersof marah in the bible. but who listens to him anyway?only the mob down in the streets. up here marat can beno danger to us. dearest... ...duperret... ...you're tryingto test me, but... ...i know what i must do. duperret...

...go to caen. barbaroux and buzot arewaiting for you there. go now and travel quickly. do not wait till this evening... ...for this evening,everything will be too late. dearest charlotte, my place is here.how could i leave the city which holds you? and why should i run... and why should run... ...now when it can't lastmuch longer?

already the english lie offdunkirk and toulon. - the prussians have occu...- spaniards. spaniards haveoccupied roussillon. - paris is...- mayence. mayence is surroundedby the prussians. condã© and valencienneshave fallen to the russians. - the austrians!- the austrians! the vendã©e is up in arms.they can't hold out... ...much longer these fanatical upstartswith no vision and no culture.

they can't hold out much longer. no, dear charlotte, here i stay... ...waiting for the promised daywhen with marat's mob interred... ...france once more speaksthe forbidden word:.. ...freedom! freedom! - chain him!- freedom! freedom.do you hear that, marat? they all say they wantwhat's best for france.

my patriotism's bigger than yours. they're all ready to die forthe honour of france. moderate or radical,they're all after the taste of blood. the luke-warm liberalsand the angry radicals... ...they all believe inthe greatness of france. marat, can't you seethis patriotism is lunacy? years ago, i left heroicsto the heroes... ...and i care no more for this countrythan for any other country. take... care.

long live napolã©on and the nation! long live all emperors,kings, bishops and popes! long live watery brothand the straitjacket! long live marat! it's easy to getmass movements going... ...movements that movein vicious circles. i don't believe in idealistswho charge down blind alleys. i don't believe in any of the sacrificesthat have been made for any cause. - i believe only in myself.- i believe in the revolution.

we have ragged outthe old tyrants. and now we have new tyrants. but still i believe in the revolution. the spoils have beengrabbed by businessmen... ...middlemen, financiers, salesmen,operators, manipulators. but the revolution must continue. those fat monkeyscovered in banknotes... have champagneand brandy on tap... they're up to their eyeballsin franc notes...

we're up to our noses in crap... those gorilla-mouthed fakers... are longing to see us all rot... the gentry may lose a few acres... but we lose the little we've got... revolution,it's more like a ruin... they're all stuffedwith glorious food... they think aboutnothing but screwing... and we are the oneswho get screwed...

pick up your arms!fight for your rights! grab what you needand grab it now! or wait a hundred years and seewhat the authorities arrange! up there they despise you, because younever had the cash to learn to read and write. you're good enough for the dirtywork of the revolution... ...but they screw their noses up at youbecause your sweat stinks. you have to sit way down there,so they won't have to see you. and down therein ignorance and stink... ...you're allowed to do your bittowards bringing in the golden age...

...in which you'll all dothe same old dirty work. up there in the sunlight... ...their poets singabout the power of life... ...and the expensive roomsin which they scheme... ...are hung with exquisite paintings. so stand up!defend yourselves from their whips! stand up!stand in front of them... ...and let them see how manyof you there are. do we have to listento this sort of thing?

we are citizens ofa new enlightened age. we're all revolutionaries nowadays, butthis is plain treachery, we can't allow it. the cleric you've been listening to... ...is that notorious priest, jacques roux... ...who to adoptthe new religious fashion... ...has quit the pulpitand with earthier passion... ...rages from soapboxes. a well-trained priest, his rhetoricis slick to say the least. 'if you'd make paradiseyour only chance...'

'...is not to build on cloudsbut solid france.' the mob eats from his hand while roux knowswhat he wants, but not what he should do. talk's cheap. the price of action is colossal... ...so roux decides to be the chiefapostle of jean-paul marat. seems good policy... ...since marat's headingstraight for calvary... ...and crucifixion,all good christians know... ...is the most sympathetic way to go.

we demand the opening ofthe granaries to feed the poor. we demand the public ownership ofworkshops and factories. we demand the conversionof the churches into schools... ...so that now at last somethinguseful may be taught in them. we demand that everyone should doall they can to put an end to war. this damned war which is runfor the benefit of profiteers... ...and leads only to more wars. we demand that the people who startedthe war should pay the cost of it. once and for all, the idea of glorious victorieswon by the glorious army must be wiped out.

neither side is glorious. on either side, they're just frightenedmen messing their pants... ...and they all wantthe same thing. not to lie under the earth... ...but to walk upon it... ...without crutches. this is outright pacifism. at this very moment, our soldiers are laying down theirlives for the freedom of the world and for our freedom. this scene was cut.

bravo, jacques roux! i like your monk's habit. nowadays it's best to preachrevolution wearing a robe. marat, come outand lead the people! they're waiting for you!it must be now! for the revolutionwhich burns up everything... ...in blinding brightness will onlylast as long as a lightning flash. monsieur de sade is whipped. marat!

today they need you, becauseyou are going to suffer for them. they need you and they honourthe urn which holds your ashes. but tomorrow they will come back andsmash that urn, and they will say:.. ..."marat?who was marat?" now i will tell you about thisrevolution which i helped to make. when i lay in the bastille,my ideas were already formed. in prison i created in my mind monstrousrepresentatives of a dying class. my imaginary giants committeddesecrations and tortures. i committed them myself.

and like them... ...allowed myself to be bound... ...and beaten. and even now... ...i should like to take this beauty herewho stands there so expectantly... ...and let her beat me... ...while i talk to youabout the revolution. at first,i saw in the revolution... ...a chance for a tremendousoutburst of revenge...

...an orgy greater thanall my dreams. but then i saw, when i satin the courtroom myself... ...not as i had been beforea prisoner, but as a judge... ...i saw that i could not bring myself togive the victim to the hangman. i did everything i could to releasethem or let them escape. i saw that i was not capable of murder, thoughmurder had been the sole proof of my existence... ...and now... ...the very thoughtof it horrifies me. in september, when i watched theofficial sacking of carmelite convent...

...i had to bend overin the courtyard and vomit... ...as i watched my propheciescoming true... ...and women running by, holding in theirdripping hands the severed genitals of men. and as the months went by... ...and the tumbrels roderegularly to the scaffold... ...and the blade dropped and waswinched up and dropped again... ...all the meaning drained out of this revenge. it was inhuman... ...it was dull...

...and curiously technocratic. and now, marat... ...now i see where yourrevolution is leading. to the witheringof the individual man... ...to the death of choice,to uniformity... ...to deadly weakness in a state which has nocontact with individuals, but which is impregnable. and so i turn away. i am one of thosewho has to be defeated... ...but out of my defeat i want to seizeeverything i can get with my own strength.

i step out of my place... ...and i watch what happens,without joining in... ...observing, noting downall my observations... ...and all around me... ...stillness. and when i vanish... ...i want all trace of my existenceto be wiped out. simonne.simonne? why is it getting so dark?

give me a fresh cloth for my forehead.put a new towel round my shoulders. i don't know if i amfreezing or burning to death. simonne. fetch bas,so i can dictate my call... ...my call to the people of france. simonne, where are all my papers?i saw them only a moment ago. - why is it getting so dark?- they're here, can't you see, jean-paul? where's the ink?where's my pen? here's your pen, jean-paul...

...and here's the ink,where it always is. that was only a cloudover the sun... ...or perhaps smoke. they are burning the corpses. poor old marat,they hunt you down... the bloodhounds aresniffing all over the town... just yesterday your printingpress was smashed... now they're askingyour home address... poor old marat...

they hunt you down... the bloodhounds are sniffingall over the town... poor old marat,in you we trust... you work till your eyesturn as red as rust... but while you write,they're on your track... the boots mount the staircase,the door's flung back... in you we trust... poor old marat,we trust in you... we want our rights...

and we don't care how... we want our revolution... now that these painful mattershave been clarified... ...let's turn and look uponthe sunny side. recall this coupleand their love so pure... ...she with her neatly-groomed coiffure... ...and her face intriguinglypale and clear... ...and her eyes ashinewith the trace of a tear... her lips...

...sensual and ripe... ...seeming to silentlycry for protection... ...and his embracesproving his affection. see how he moveswith natural grace... ...and how his heart sprints onat passion's pace. let's gaze at the sweet blendingof the strong and fair sex... ...before their headsfall off their necks. one day it will come to pass... man will live in harmonywith himself...

and with his fellow-man... one day it will come... ...a society which will pool its energy to defend andprotect each person for the possession of each person... ...and in which each individualalthough united with all others... ...only obeys himselfand stays free... a society in which... ...every man is trusted with the rightof governing... ...himself himself... ...a constitution in whichthe natural inequalities of man...

...are subject to a higher order,so that all... ...however varied their mentaland physical powers may be... ...by agreement legallyget their fair share... don't think you can beat themwithout using force. don't be deceived... ...when our revolutionhas been finally stamped out... ...and they tell youthings are better now. even if there's no poverty to be seen,because the poverty's been hidden... ...even if you got more wages and could affordto buy more of these new and useless goods...

...and even if it seemed to youthat you never had so much... ...that is only the slogan of thosewho have that much more than you. don't be taken in... ...when they pat you paternally on the shoulder andsay that there's no inequality worth speaking of... ...and no more reason for fighting. if you believe them, they will be completelyin charge in their shining homes and granite banks... ...from which they rob the people of the worldunder the pretence of bringing them freedom. watch out... ...for as soon as it pleases them, they will sendyou out to protect their wealth in wars...

...whose weapons rapidly developed by servilescientists will become more and more deadly... ...until they can with a flick of a fingertear a million of you to pieces. lying there,scratched and swollen... ...your brow burning,in your world, your bath. you still believethat justice is possible? you still believe all men are equal? do you still believe that all occupationsare equally satisfying, equally valuable? and that no man wants to begreater than the others? how does the old song go?

one always bakesthe most delicate cakes. two is the really superb masseur. three sets your hairwith exceptional flair. four's brandy goes to the emperor. five knows each trickof advanced rhetoric. six bred a beautifulbrand-new rose. seven can cookevery dish in the book. and eight cuts youflawlessly elegant clothes. you still believe thatthese eight would be happy...

...if each of them could climbso high, but no higher... ...before banging theirheads on equality? if each could be only a small linkin a long and heavy chain? you still believe that it's possibleto unite mankind... ...when already you see how the few idealistswho did join together in the name of harmony... ...are now out of tune... ...and would like to killeach other over trifles? but they aren't trifles.they are matters of principle... ...and it's usual in a revolution for the half-heartedand the fellow-travellers to be dropped.

we can't begin to build until we'veburnt the old buildings down... ...no matter how dreadful that may sound to thosewho lounge contentedly toying with their scruples. listen. can you hear through the wallshow they plot and whisper? do you see howthey lurk everwhere? just waiting forthe chance to strike. what has gone wrong withthe men who are ruling? i'd like to know whothey think they are fooling. they told us that torturewas over and gone...

...but everyone knowsthe same torture goes on. - the king's gone away.- the priests emigrating. - the nobles are buried...- ...so why are we waiting? corday's second visit. now charlotte cordaystands outside marat's door. the second time she's tried. i have come to deliver this letter in whichi ask again to be received by marat. i am unhappy and thereforehave a right to his aid. - i have a right to his aid!- who is at the door, simone?

a girl from caen with a letter... ...a petitioner. i won't let anyone in. they only bring us trouble. all these people with theirconvulsions and complaints. as if you hadnothing better to do... ...than be their lawyer...and doctor... and confessor. that's how it is, marat. that's how she seesyour revolution.

they have toothache,so their teeth should be pulled. their soup's burnt.they shout for better soup. a woman finds her husband too short,she wants a taller one. a man finds his wife too skinny,he wants a plumper one. one man's shoes pinch,but his neighbour's shoes fit comfortably. a poet runs out of poetryand desperately gropes for new images. for hours an angler casts his line. why aren't the fish biting? and so they join the revolution...

...thinking the revolutionwill give them everything. a fish, a poem,a new pair of shoes... ...a new wife, a new husband,and the best soup in the world. so they storm all the citadels... ...and there they are,and everything is just the same... ...no fish biting, verses botched,shoes pinching... ...a worn and stinkingpartner in bed... ...and the soup burnt. and all that heroism whichdrove us down to the sewers.

we can talk about itto our grandchildren... ...if we have any grandchildren. marat, marat, it's all in vain. you studied the bodyand probed the brain. in vain you spent your energies... ...for how can a mancure his own disease. marat, marat,where is our path? or is it not visiblefrom your bath? your enemies are closing in.

without you,the people can never win. marat, marat, can you explain... ...how once in the daylightyour thought seemed plain. has your affliction left you dumb? your thoughts lie in shadows,now night has come. marat's nightmare. they are coming. listen to them... ...and look carefully atthese gathering figures.

yes, i hear you,all the voices i ever heard. yes, i see you... ...all the old faces. woe to the man who is different... ...who tries to break downall the barriers. woe to the man who triesto stretch the imagination of man. he shall be mocked,he shall be scourged... ...by the blinkeredguardians of morality. you wanted enlightenmentand warmth...

...and so you studied light and heat. you wondered how forcescan be controlled... ...so you studied electricity. you wanted to knowwhat man is for... ...so you asked yourself,"what is this soul..." "...this dump for hollow idealsand mangled morals?" and you decided thatthe soul is in the brain... ...and that it can learn to think. for to you, the soul isa practical thing...

...a tool for rulingand mastering life. and you came, one day,to the revolution... ...because you sawthe most important vision. that our circumstances must bechanged fundamentally... ...and without these changes... ...everything we try to domust fail. ...and the poor stay poor... marat, don't make... ...us wait anymore...

...and we don't care how... ...now... now marat is stillin his bathtub confined... ...but politicians crowdinto his mind. he speaks to them,his last polemic fight... ...to say who should be tribune.it is almost night. - down with marat.- don't let him speak. listen to him,he's got the right to speak. - long live marat.- long live robespierre.

long live danton. fellow citizens,members of the national assembly... ...our country is in danger. from every corner of europe,armies invade us... ...led by profiteers who want to strangle usand already quarrel over the spoils. and what are we doing? our minister of war whoseintegrity you never doubted... ...has sold the corn meant for our armiesfor his own profit to foreign powers... ...and now it feeds the troopswho are invading us.

- lies!- throw him out! the chief of our army,dumouriez... - bravo!- long live dumouriez! ...against whom i've warned you continually and whom yourecently hailed as a hero has gone over to the enemy. shame! - bravo!- liar! most of the generals who wear our uniformare sympathetic with the emigrã©s... ...and when the emigrã©s return,our generals will be out to welcome them. execute them!

- down with marat!- long live marat! our trusted minister of finance,the celebrated monsieur cambon... ...is issuing fake banknotes thus increasing inflationand diverting a fortune into his own pocket. long live free enterprise. and i am told that perregeaux,our most intelligent banker... ...is in league with the english, and in his armouredvaults is organising a centre of espionage against us. - that's quite enough!- the people... we agreed to make no mention of the guttersnipesmears which these meant something in the past. after all, we're living ineighteen hundred and eight.

and today these men hold position of honour,each of them was chosen firstly by the emperor. - go on!- shut up, marat! - shut his mouth!- long live marat! our country is in danger. we talk about france,but who is france for? we talk about freedom,but who's this freedom for? members of the national assembly... ...you will never shake off the past. you will never understand the greatupheaval in which you find yourselves.

why aren't there thousands of public seats in this assembly,so anyone who wants can hear what's being discussed? what is he trying to do? look who sits on the public benches. knitting-women, concierges and washer-womenwith no one to employ them any more. and who has he got on his side? pickpockets, layabouts, parasites who loiterin the boulevards and hang around the cafã©s. wish we could. released prisoners,escaped lunatics! does he want to ruleour country with these?

you are liars.you hate the people. - well done, marat.- that's true. you'll never stop talking of the peopleas a rough and formless mass. why?because you live apart from them. you let yourselves be dragged into the revolutionknowing nothing about its principles. has not our respected danton himself announced that insteadof banning riches, we should make poverty respectable? and robespierre who turns whitewhen the word force is used... ...doesn't he sit at high-class tablesmaking cultural conversation by candlelight? - down with robespierre!- down with danton!

and still you long to ape them... ...those betrayers of the revolution,those powdered chimpanzees. i denounce them. i denounce necker... ...lafayette, talleyrand... that's enough! these are my friendsand friends of france. if you use any more of these slanderouspassages we agreed to cut... ...i will stop your play.

...and all the rest of us. what we need now isa true deputy of the people... ...one who's incorruptible,one we can trust. things are breaking down,things are chaotic... ...but that is good,that's the first step. now we must take the next step, andchoose a man who will rule all of you. - marat for dictator!- marat in his bathtub! send him down the sewers! dictator of the rats!

dictator the wordmust be abolished. i hate anything to dowith masters and slaves. i am talking about a leaderwho in this... he's trying to rouse them againto new murders! we do not murder... ...we kill in self-defence.we are fighting for our lives. oh, if only we could have constructivethought instead of agitation. if only beauty and concord could oncemore replace hysteria and fanaticism. look what's happening!join together!

cast down your enemies,disarm them! for if they win, they willspare not one of you... ...and all that you havewon so far will be lost. marat! marat! marat! a laurel wreath for marat! a victory parade for marat! long live the streets! long live the lamp-posts! long live the bakers' shops!

long live freedom! hit at the rich until they crash. throw down their godand divide their cash. we wouldn't mind a tasty mealof patã© de foie and filleted eel. marat! marat! marat!marat! marat! marat! poor marat in your bathtub seat... ...your life on this planetis near complete... closer and closerto you death creeps... ...though there on her benchcharlotte corday sleeps...

poor marat, if she slept too late... ...while dreaming of fairy-taleheads of state... ...maybe your sicknesswould disappear... charlotte cordaywould not find you here... poor marat,stay wide awake... ...and be on your guardfor the people's sake... stare through the failingevening light... ...for this is the eveningbefore the night... what is that knocking, simonne?

simone! why all these calls to the nation? it's too late, marat, forgetyour call, it contains only lies. what do you stillwant from the revolution? where is it going? look at these lost revolutionaries. where will you lead them?what will you order them to do? once you spoke of the authorities whoturned the law into instruments of oppression. but how would you faire in the newrearranged france you yearned for?

do you want someone else totell you what you must write? tell you what work you must do? and repeat to you the new laws over andover until you can recite them in your sleep? why is everything so confused? everything i wrote orspoke was considered... ...and true. each argument was sound. and now... ...doubt?

why does everythingsound false? poor old marat,you lie prostrate... ...while others are gamblingwith france's fate... your words have turned into a flood... ...which covers all francewith her people's blood... ...you lie prostrate... marat, you lie prostrate... corday... ...wake up.

corday. corday, you have an appointment to keep,and there is no more time for sleep. charlotte corday,awake and stand. take the dagger in your hand. come on, charlotte,do your deed... ...soon you'll getall the sleep you need. now i know what it is likewhen the head is cut off the body. this moment... ...hands tied behind the back,feet bound together...

...neck bared, hair cut off,knees on the boards... ...head already laidin the metal slot... ...looking down intothe dripping basket. the sound of the blade rising and fromits slanting edge the blood still drops... ...and then the downwardslide to split us... ...in two! they say that the head held highin the executioner's hand... ...still lives... ...that the eyes still see...

...that the tongue still writhes... ...and that down below... ...the arms and legs... ...still... ...shudder. charlotte, awakenfrom your nightmare. wake up, charlotte,and look at the trees... ...gaze at the rose-coloured evening skyin which your lovely bosom heaves. forget your worries,abandon each care...

...and breathe in the warmthof the summertime air. what are you hiding?a dagger? throw it away! we should all carryweapons in self-defence. no one will attack you,charlotte. throw it away, go away,go back to caen. in my room in caen... ...on the tableunder the open window... ...lies open the book of judith. dressed in her legendary beauty...

...she entered the tentof the enemy... ...and with a single blow,slew him! charlotte,what are you planning? look at this city. its prisons are crowdedwith our friends. i was with them just nowin my sleep. they stand huddled together there and hear throughthe windows the guards talking about executions. they talk of people as gardenerstalk of leaves for burning. their names are crossed offthe top of a list...

...and as the list grows shorter,more names are added to the bottom. i stood with them, and we waitedfor our own names to be called. let us leave togetherthis very evening. what sort of streetsare these? who invented this,who profits by it? i saw peddlers at every corner... ...they're selling little guillotineswith tiny sharp blades... ...and dolls filled with red liquid which spurtsfrom the neck when the sentence is carried out. what kind of children are these...

...who can play withthis toy so efficiently? and who is judging? who is judging? what do you want at this door?do you know who lives here? the man for whose sakei have come here. but what do you want from him?turn back, charlotte. i have a task whichi must carry out. go... ...leave me alone.

now for the third time you observethe girl whose job it is to serve... ...as charlotte corday stands once morewaiting outside marat's door. duperret you see before her languish... ...prostrated by their parting's anguish. even his pain, his pleadings,chaste but warm... ...cannot divert the actshe must perform. for what has happenedcannot be undone... ...although that mightbe wished by everyone. we tried restraining herwith peaceful sleep...

...and with the claims of a passionstill more deep. simonne as well as bestshe could she tried... ...but this girl herewould not be turned aside. that man is now forgottenand we can do nothing more... ...corday is focussed on this man. no. i am right... ...and i will say it again. simonne, fetch bas.

it is urgent... ...my call. ...what are all your pamphletsand speeches compared with her? she stands here and will come to youto kiss you and embrace you. ...an untouched virgin stands before youand offers herself to you. see how she smiles,how her teeth shine... ...how she shakesher dark hair aside. marat, forget the rest... ...there's nothing elsebeyond the body.

she stands here... ...her breasts nakedunder the thin cloth... ...and perhaps she carries a knifeto intensify the love-play. who is at the door, simone? a maiden from the rural desert of a convent. imagine... ...those pure girls lying therein rough shifts on hard floor... ...and the heated air from the fields forcingits way to them through the barred windows. ...them lying there...

...with moist thighs and breasts... ...dreaming of those whocontrol life in the outside world. and then she was tired of her isolationand caught up in the new age... ...and gathered up in the great tide... ...and wished to bepart of the revolution. but what's the point of a revolution... ...without general copulation? and what's the pointof a revolution without general... ...general copulation,copulation, copulation..?

...when i lay in the bastillefor thirteen long years... ...i learned thatthis is a world of bodies. each body pulsing witha terrible power... ...each body alone andracked with its own unrest. in that lonelinessmarooned in a stone sea... ...i heard lips whispering continuallyand felt all the time... ...in the palms of my handsand in my skin... ...the need of contact. shut behind thirteen bolted doors,my feet fettered...

...i dreamed onlyof the orifices of the body... ...put there, so one may hookand twine oneself in them. continually i dreamedof this confrontation... ...and it was a dream of the most savage,jealous and cruellest imagining. ...these cells of the inner self are worsethan the deepest stone dungeon... ...and as long as they are locked... ...all your revolution remainsonly a prison mutiny... ...to be put downby corrupted fellow-prisoners. and what's the point ofa revolution without general...

...general copulation,copulation, copulation... ...copulation, copulation,copulation, copulation..? corday's third and last visit! have you given my letter to marat?let me in, it is vital. i must tell himabout the situation in caen... ...where they aregathering to destroy him. who is at the door, simonne? the girl from caen. let her come in.

i will tell youthe names of my heroes... ...but i am not betraying them... ...for i am speaking to a dead man. speak more clearly.i can't understand you. come closer. i name you... ...names... ...the names of thosewho have gathered at caen. i name...

...barbaroux and... ...buzot and... ...pã©tion and louvet and... ...brissot and vergniaud and... ...gaudet and... ...gensonnã©! who are you? i am coming, marat. you cannot see me...

...because you are dead. bas! take this down. saturday, the thirteenthof july, seventeen hundred and ninety three. a call to the people of france. now it's a part of sade's dramatic plan... ...to interrupt the action,so this man... ...marat can hear andgasp with his last breath... ...at how the worldwill go after his death. with a musical history,we'll bring him up to date... ...from seventeen-ninety-threeto eighteen-eight.

now your enemies fall...we're beheading them all... duperret and cordayexecuted in the same old way... robespierre has to get on,he gets rid of danton... that was spring, comes july,and old robespierre has to die... three rebellions a year,but we're still of good cheer... malcontents, all have been,taught their lesson by the guillotine... there's a shortage of wheat...we're too happy to eat... austria cracks and thenshe surrenders to our men... fifteen glorious years...fifteen glorious years...

years of peace, years of war,each year greater than the year before... fifteen glorious,glorious, glorious years... marat, we're marching on... what brave soldiers we've got...now the traitors are shot... generals blodly takepower in paris for the people's sake... egypt's beaten down flat...bonaparte did that... cheer him as they retreat,even though we lose our fleet... bonaparte comes back,gives our rulers the sack... he's the man, brave and true...bonaparte would die for you...

europe's free of her chains...only england remains... but we want wars to cease,so there's fourteen months of peace... england must be insane,wants to fight us again... so we march off to war...bonaparte is our emperor... nelson bothers our fleet,but he's shot off his feet... we're on top, yes, we are,and we spit on trafalgar... now the prussians retreat...russia faces defeat... all the world bends its kneeto napoleon and his family... fight on land and on sea...all men want to be free...

if they don't, never mind,we'll abolish all mankind... behind napoleon... marat, marat, we're marching onbehind napoleon... tell us, monsieur de sade,for our instruction... ...just what you have achievedwith your production. who won?who lost? we'd like to know the meaningof your bathhouse show. our play's chief aim has been to take to bitsthe great propositions and their opposites... ...see how they work...

...and let them fight it out. the point? some light on our eternal doubt. i've twisted andturned on every way... ...and can find no endingto our play. marat and i bothadvocated force... ...but in debate,each took a different course. both want the changes... ...but his views and mine on usingpower never could combine.

on the one side, he thinks our livescan be improved by axes and knives. or he would submergein the imagination... ...seeking a personal annihilation. so for me, the last wordnever can be spoken. i'm left with a questionthat is always open. and if most have a littleand few have a lot... you can see how much nearerour goal we have got... we can say what we likewithout favour or fear... and what we can't saywe can breathe in your ear...

and though we're locked upwe're no longer enslaved... and the honour of franceis eternally saved... the useless debate,the political brawl... ...are over, there's one manto speak for us all... - for he helps us in sickness and destitution...- no! why are you afraid to tell them? - he's the leader who ended the revolution...- listen to me! listen! - and everyone knows why we're cheering for...- marat has died for you! they murdered him! - napolã©on, our mighty emperor...- and now they will murder you! when will you learn to take sides?

- when will you learn to stand up? listen! listen to me!- led by him, our soldiers go... - ...over deserts and through the snow...- when will you learn to stand up? a victory hereand a victory there... invincible, glorious,always victorious... for the good of all peopleeverywhere... charenton..! charenton..! napolã©on..! napolã©on..! nation..! nation..! copulation..! copulation..!

let me go!

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