Holds Up Well ... Hope I Am!

I just watched the DVD (which was excellent quality) the other night and was amazed at how it was the music that brought it all back to me. I think I owned the LP record a few decades ago.

I'm a bit of an oldster, I guess. I don't remember when I first saw the movie. However, I do remember seeing the play in about 1969 to 1970. It was just after college and I was a freshly-minted, pre-shaving ensign in the Navy stationed in Washington, D.C. What a great place for a first tour of duty. I remember two plays from that year: Seeing "1776" in pre-Broadway tryouts at the National Theatre and seeing "Marat/Sade" someplace that was off-National Theatre in the D.C. area. But I do remember that it starred Hurd Hatfield (player of Dorian Gray in "The Picture of Dorian Gray").

Forty years later, it still holds up well. The raucous activity of the demented players is disturbing, as it is meant to be, while they spout philosophy that they cannot fathom. Glenda Jackson, in one of her earliest roles, stands out, as does Patrick Magee. And I suddenly realized that I knew Marat too -- those eyes -- I had to check the credits for Ian Richardson, whom we've seen in countless roles since those early days.

I've still got the music roaming my brain three days later.

Recommended viewing, but not for the faint of intellect.