Night Waves - Madame de Sade

Matthew Sweet sees Dame Judi Dench in an all-star production of the play Madame de Sade, about the mother-in-law and the wife of the infamous Marquis de Sade, written by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Mishima is best known for having committed suicide after he led a failed right-wing coup d'etat in Japan in 1970. But this drama, written five years earlier, is possibly just as controversial. It explores the lives of six women involved with the notorious de Sade - at the point in his life when he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his licentious actions. The play has rarely been performed in Britain and has been newly translated from Japanese for this production. Matthew and guests assess the results.