Set in the early 1800s at the Charenton Aslum for the Insane, Quills, illuminates the final days and lewd writings of the Marquis de Sade (Timothy Otte), the man for whom sadism was named.
The scenery, though suggestive of an asylum, is remarkably sparse. Fragments of red bars hang in the rear of the stage and the stone walls of the cell are curved and uneven at their edges. These scant barriers are suggestive of the ease with which the Marquis’s words slip through the bars of his cell to horrify and entertain his readers. Though Abbe de Coulmier (Eric Hamel) and Dr. Royer-Collard (James Bobock) struggle to censor the author, his expression cannot be halted. When they take away his quill, he writes in wine on his bed sheets. When the bed is stripped and he is given only water, he writes in his own blood on his clothes, crafting an entire suit of pornographic tales.
Of course, the Marquis’s continued resistance to rehabilitation forces the otherwise pious Abbe to further censor the libertine by stripping away his clothes and wig. For the remaining act and a half, Otte skillfully continues the flamboyancy and arrogance of the Marquis while completely nude. The disturbing thing is that even while naked, Otte finds ways to shock his audience. He grins malevolently and whispers tales of depraved sexual fantasies, of violence against children and prostitutes, and of the corruption of the church. Otte navigates the manipulative and sinister Marquis masterfully, making the character at once a victim, a lunatic, and a philosopher. He spews filth about pedophiles and torture, while debating the Abbe’s devotion to God.
Monsieur Prouix (Erin Gilligan), an architect and the only character with a French accent, and Renee Pelagie (Sally Nutt), the socialite wife of the Marquis, add some comic relief to Quills. Prouix dreams of white marble and silk tapestries and ivory imported from India, concerned only with the beauty of his own creation. Renee Pelagie, though manipulative in her own right, cares more for plum tarts and opera dates than the well-being of her husband and his caretakers.
Madeleine LeCleur (Jenny Reagan) provides an interesting foil for the Marquis. Dr. Royer-Collard damns the aristocrat for using his writing to incite violence, but the only true reader in the play is the laundress Madeleine, a sweet girl who reads the stories to her blind mother. They both see the stories as a way to escape the tedium of washing the asylum’s linens.
Each character in Quills is a victim, and while the Marquis de Sade most actively teases the fates, each character plays his own part in his own demise. Predictably, the saintly Abbe de Coulmier falls the farthest, done in by his belief that the end justifies the means, caught up in the tales of violence until he too questions God and longs to feel the pull of a blade against his flesh.
Quills runs from July 29th to August 8th, with evening performances Wednesday through Saturday and a matinée on Sunday. Tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door, with $10 student rush tickets. Performed by Bad Habit Productions at the Durell Theater at the YMCA Cambridge in Central Square.
