Performing History - Theatrical Representations of the Past (original) (raw)

care and confidence, but my great appreciation; to Herbert Blau, as will become clear in the following pages, my admiration; to Yvonne Rock, my gratitude for her deep and lasting friendship; and to Galit Hasan-Rokem, as much as I can give. This book is dedicated to our three children. xiv Preface Poetry and History The notion of performing history, chosen for the title of this study, is intentionally ambiguous because the terms "performance" and "history" can align in a number of different ways. On the most basic level the notion refers not to the representations of the past staged in the theatre but to the historical events and actions themselves as they have been performed in the past (in the "past perfect" tense). A historical event, moreover, is a form of "doing" or performing just Here the Marquis de Sade, as a refraction of Peter Weiss, directly refers to the historical developments which took place 150 years after the French Revolution, but are, no doubt, relevant to both the playwright and his audiences after the Second World War. In this context it is also important to note, however, that the expression translated as the "final solution" in the last line of the English translation of Sade's speech in Marat/Sade is "letzten Behandlung" in the German original. This rather means "last treatment," which Sally Jacobs's model for the production of Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 1964. The showers are clearly visible on both sides of the stage. Photo by and courtesy of Sally Jacobs.