Madame de Sade
By Yukio Mishima, translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene
Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre
Mishima's Madame de Sade plays like a film with no action. Specifics of the setting are projected onto a huge screen, informing us it is 'Paris, 1772'. However, given the already extensive amount of detail in the expositional dialogue, this projection appears as an unnecessary stunt. Leeway must be given for the revealing of a back-story, but Madame de Sade begins, continues and ends recounting what has occurred either previously or off-stage.
The inert scripting hinders what are otherwise convincing character portrayals, especially true of Madame de Sade herself, Rosamund Pike, whose performance strongly overshadows that of Fiona Button as Anne, and even Judi Dench as Madame de Montreuil. Against the over-wordy tendency of the play, Pike resists a declamatory delivery and, during the dream-like sequences of pulsating music and rolling projections, achieves a visceral energy.
The single set evokes a sense of decaying wealth and grandeur, and its silvery iridescent quality allows the cast to be semi-reflected in its sheen. Aptly mirroring the self-obsession that pervades the play, the set facilitates the mingling of moving projections with its texture. Candles, blood-jets and clouds, the projections and accompanying sounds provide a core of emotional vitality that is unfortunately lacking from the rest of the often flaccid dialogue.
At times thrilling, at others deadening, Madame de Sade shows that even a star-studded cast cannot transform a lacklustre script.
Helena S. Rampley
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