Madame de Sade

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Madame de Sade in London at the Wyndham's Theatre previewed 13 March 2009, opened 18 March 2009 and closed 23 May 2009.

The Donmar Warehouse present Yukio Mishima's play Madame de Sade in London in a production translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene and directed by Michael Grandage and starring Judi Dench.

Against her mother's wishes, Renee remains vehemently devoted to her husband, the Marquis de Sade, the notorious aristocrat imprisoned in the Bastille for his lurid escapades and licentious behaviour. Set in Paris, as it hurtles towards a violent revolution, Mishima's poetic masterpiece brings to life the fascinating story of the Marquis de Sade told through the eyes of six remarkable women.

The cast for Madame de Sade in London features Judi Dench as 'Madame de Montreuil', Rosamund Pike as 'Renée', Frances Barber as 'Comtesse de Saint-Fond', Fiona Button as 'Anne', Deborah Findlay as 'Baronesse de Simiane' and Jenny Galloway as 'Charlotte' - cast subject to change. The production is directed by Michael Grandage with designs by Christopher Oram, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Adam Cork and video art and projection designs by Lorna Heavey.

Japanese playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970) wrote Madame de Sade in 1965. Mishima is perhaps best known for his nihilistic post-war writings, and the circumstances of his ritual suicide by seppuku. Mishima wrote 40 novels - including his four book masterpiece The Sea of Fertility - 20 books of essays, one libettro and 18 plays.

"Rosamund Pike is affecting and utterly believable as Renee, and Judi Dench formidable as the moralistic Madame de Montreuil... Frances Barber relishes her role as the voluptuous and decadent Comtesse de Saint-Fond... Madame de Sade remains a steadfastly unlikeable play, formally impressive but glacially cold, which is pretty much what Yukio Mishima was aiming for: an aesthetic of "flames seen through ice", the quality he found and so admired in Racine. Michael Grandage's impeccably classy production remains faithful to that aesthetic." The Sunday Times

"Miss Dench is appearing on stage beside two of the most wily scene stealers in the business - Frances Barber and Rosamund Pike - and yet, for all that, one has to acknowledge that she has proved herself to be an actress who is still very much at the top of her game... One admires Michael Grandage for having the courage to try something that is different, and, if this eagerly awaited production is not an unqualified success, it is no fault of his or of the three principals. Rather it is Mishima's work which, even with a translator as adept as Donald Keene agonising over his every last syllable, doesn't quite ring true." The Sunday Telegraph

"In Madame De Sade, Frances Barber is perfectly cast as the saucy courtesan Madame de Saint-Fond... Judi Dench bristles with dismay and disapproval as the Marquis's mother-in-law... The visual splendour of Christopher Oram's grand interior and Stephanie Aditti's sumptuous dresses cannot, alas, disguise the play's dullness nor, in Michael Grandage's beautifully acted production, compensate for the absence of eroticism." The Mail on Sunday

Madame de Sade at the Wyndham's Theatre in London previewed from 13 March 2009, opened on 18 March 2009 and closed on 23 May 2009.

The Donmar Warehouse present Madame de Sade in London's West End as part of a year long season at The Wyndham's Theatre. Kenneth Branagh joins The Donmar West End as an Associate Artistic Director for this season that comprises four plays:
Ivanov: From 12 September to 29 November 2008
Twelfth Night: From 5 December 2008 to 7 March 2009
Madame de Sade: From 13 March to 23 May 2009
Hamlet: From 29 May to 22 August 2009