Neil Bartlett

First published in 1947, The Plague was an immediate best-seller, striking a powerful chord with readers who were struggling to understand the fascist 'plague' that had just overwhelmed Europe. Seventy years later, author and director Neil Bartlett has adapted Camus' classic for our own dangerous times. Using just five actors, his frank and gripping new stage version uses Camus' original words to put chaos under the microscope and to find hope in the power of our common humanity.

The Plague (after La Peste)

Donny

Natalie Unsinn 

“The greatest longing of an unquiet heart is to possess constantly and consciously the loved one, or, failing that, to be able to plunge the loved one, when a time of absence intervenes, into a dreamless sleep timed to last unbroken until the day they meet again.” Pg 102

“There’s no money in plague, that’s sure.” Pg 74

“His sensibility was getting out of hand. Kept under all the time, it had grown hard and brittle and seemed to snap completely now and then, leaving him the prey of his emotions. No resource was left him but to tighten the stranglehold on his feelings and harden his heart protectively.” Pg 172

“Really, it’s too damn silly living only in and for the plague. Of course, a man should fight for the victims, but if he ceases caring for anything outside that, what’s the use of his fighting?” Pg 231

“...We learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.” Pg 278

giuli

Les hommes et les femmes, ou bien se dévorent rapidement dans ce qu'on appelle l'acte d'amour, ou bien s'engagent dans une longue habitude à deux. Entre ces extrêmes, il n'y a pas souvent de milieu. Cela non plus n'est pas original. À Oran comme ailleurs, faute de temps et de réflexion, on est bien obligé de s'aimer sans le savoir. 

Question : comment faire pour ne pas perdre son temps? Réponse : l’éprouver dans toute sa longueur.

— Cest stupide, docteur, vous comprenez. Je n'ai pas été mis au monde pour faire des reportages. Mais peut-être ai-je été mis au monde pour vivre avec une femme. 

Mais c'est difficile, disait-il. Il y a longtemps que j'y pense. Tant que nous nous sommes aimés, nous nous sommes compris sans paroles. Mais on ne s'aime pas toujours. 

The Plague (after La Peste) quotes

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