Marat/Sade at UP

I apologize for not being able to write too often these days. I've been working hard on my final production at the University of Portland. We're doing Marat/Sade, and even though the role is out of my age range, type, and gender, they have me playing Jean-Paul Marat. Anyway, tonight is the first dress rehearsal, and we'll be opening on Wednesday.
This show tends to be a bit difficult to follow so here are my top four things (not in any specific order) to know before coming to see it:

1. Charenton is the location of the show. It was a famous insane asylum founded in 1645 in France. It was known for its humanitarian treatment of patients especially under Abbe de Coulmier (an important character in the show), and may be most famous for housing The Marquies de Sade.
2. The Marquies de Sade is where we get the term "sadism." This stems from his fascination with writing about sadomasichism, rape, bestiality, and necrophilia. He was also a philosopher and revolutionary. Interestingly, Sade wrote the Eulogy for Jean-Paul Marat.
3. Jean-Paul Marat was a Swiss born physician, political theorist, and scientist who was far better known for being a radical journalist during the bloody French Revolution, and was considered, at one point, one of the most important men in France. History calls Marat responsible for the Reign of Terror which killed some 20,000 to 40,000 "enemies of the revolution." Marat unfortunately suffered from a debilitating skin disease which kept him confined to his bathtub for three years prior to his famous murder.
4. Charlotte Corday was associated with the Girondins, the rival political faction of the Jacobins (the party Marat lead), and in 1793 Corday was executed under the guillotine for the murder of Marat, famously pictured in the painting by Jacques-Louis David above. This murder incited a new streak of executions in France.

I would recommend checking out the movie Quills. It takes place at Charenton, and Geoffrey Rush does a beautiful job with his character, The Marquis de Sade!
Hope to see you there this week! Despite the history lesson, it is a lot of fun!