'Madame De Sade' -A Troubled Author!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 3:33am

Our very own Dame Judi returns to the West End stage in just a few weeks time in a very controversial drama about the Marquis de Sades mother-in-law.
It was written by gay Japannese playwright, Yukio Mishima. Little is known of this playwright except, rather stunningly, that he committed ritual suicide in 1970 by dis-embowelling himself in front of 50 people!
Nice.

Updated On: 1/5/09 at 03:33 AM

[legallysam]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:31am

dis-embowelling himself - whats that?

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 9:40am

Too much turkey sandwiches and turkey currie between Christmas and New Year!

[legallysam]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:15am

i still don't get it.. :P

lol did you get my reply to your PM mama?

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:18am

Think hari-kiri suicide- he cut his stomach open with a long sword. He was a bit kinky.

[Weez]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:00pm

He's not that unknown. Well, maybe as a playwright. But he's a pretty well known novelist in the world of book nerds. Bloody good one too, you should read him sometime. Seppuku may be an old-fashioned way to commit suicide, but it has very deep meaning in Japan and makes MUCH more of a statement than just slitting your wrists or hanging yourself, and I don't mean in the "well of course spilling your innards on the floor is more statementy than a nice neat hanging!" either. :P You should look him up sometime, he's fascinating.

[masque2]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 2:27pm

I actually learned about him in my Japanese cinema course (He came up when we were discussing sexuality in Japanese films). Yes, he was a fascinating individual, and well worth reading about.

[lovepigeon]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 9:06am

Hara kiri was like an execution method for Samurais. If a Samurai was sentenced to death, he was given the 'honour' of disembowelling himself rather than have someone else do it. If a soldier killed someone on his own side by accident, he'd kill himself by hara kiri too, but only through choice. It used to be like an honourable admission of guilt but I think it's illegal now. There's another name for it but I can't remember it.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 10:53am

But he's a pretty well known novelist in the world of book nerds. Bloody good one too, you should read him sometime.

Indeed - I recommended and sold 'Spring Snow' to a customer only a couple of days ago! I must get my arse into gear to book tickets for Madame de Sade - I've mangaed to miss all of the 'Donmar At Wyndhams' season so far just through sheer laziness...

[masque2]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 1:51pm

Sorry, I'm taking this thread a bit off topic by recommending a film, but still deals a bit with the subject matter.

The film is called "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." It is about prisoners being held in a World War II Japanese prisoner of war camp and deals with quite a bit of subject matter that has been brought up in this thread. It stars David Bowie and Takeshi Kitano and was directed by Nagisa Oshima. One of the more interesting aspects of the film is that it is told mainly from the British character's point of view, but the film is directed by a Japanese director.

Sorry, my film geek side took over, but I thought that those interested in this thread might also be interested in the film.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:03pm

I haven't seen this movie in years, I loved it when it first got released. A tremendous movie with an amazing performance from David Bowie.
Thanks for that, I'll seek out the DVD 2mrw.