![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Standing in their way is the Abbe de Coulmier, who seeks to protect de Sade’s creativity as being God given (in actual history, the Abbe who was an elderly debauched libertine, created a theatre at the Asylum for de Sade’s plays, and Paris society comprised the audience). Basically, the storyline concerns the Asylum’s new Doctor, Royer-Collard (Adam Ward), who colludes with the Marquis’ wife Renee Pelagie (Andrea McCannon) to stop de Sade from writing his lascivious novels and plays because they are an embarrassment to her. The play, an homage to both Grand Guignol and Theatre of The Absurd, confronts us with debauchery and perversion of every kind, yet is also hilariously funny when excesses become unacceptably extreme. ![]() Director Chris Baldock doesn’t shy away from any of these in his production of Doug Wright’s seldom-performed gasp-a-minute play Quills, about the (fictitious) last days of the infamous Marquis de Sade in Charenton asylum. Good theatre should be more than just entertaining, it should be always evocative and, when possible, provocative and even confronting. Oh, if only all theatre companies were as brave as Mockingbird. Arts House – the Meat Markets, North Melbourne. ![]()
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