TOI Whakaari student Chris Parker felt liberated when he became an erotic novel and short story writer who enjoys bizarre and violent sexual fantasies.
The 19 year old is stoked to play the role of French aristocrat and revolutionary Marquis de Sade, after whom the word “sadism” is derived, in director Annie Ruth’s adaptation of Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss.
The 20th century drama is a play within a play. The cast play the inmates of Charenton, the asylum presided over by the Marquis de Sade. The inmates, each of whom suffer from a neurological condition, re-enact the events leading up to the death of radical journalist and politician from the French revolution Jean-Paul Marat.
“When I first read the script I had no idea what was going on,” says Parker, referring to the complicated piece. “You have to do your homework.”
If only all homework was as controversial and, dare we say, interesting as the subject of the Marquis de Sade.
De Sade was born in France in 1740, and is renowned for his erotic novels, short stories and plays. He was incarcerated in prisons and an insane asylum; accused of holding captive  and sexually abusing a woman as well as various servant girls and employees – not to mention running off with his wife’s sister and having an affair with a 13 year old before he died in his 70s.
“He is such a sensual character,” says Parker. “He loves bodies, he loves skin and senses, touching, whipping, kissing.”
After rehearsals – spent couped up in a small room with a cast of Toi Whakaari students clad in corsets and singing the songs of a sadist – Parker feels an overwhelming sense of liberation.
“I feel free to do anything. I just want to… go for a walk.”
The bright, young actor acknowledges that the life of de Sade might sound disgusting to some, but after reading biographies about the man and essentially becoming him in the show, he has embraced the philosophical thoughts of de Sade more than his salaciousness.
The play has made Parker realise that “life is about living. And when you strip away everything it’s just people interacting with one another”.
He repeats the de Sade quote: “What’s the point of a revolution without general copulation?” a number of times during the interview, emphasising “once de Sade has been sexually liberated he feels free”.
“I agree with the idea that as humans we need to be free,” Parker says.
That’s not to say Parker is as hell bent on sadomasochism as his character.
“I’m not going to go home, pull out my whip and start thrashing myself,” he laughs. “And if you walked past me in the street, you wouldn’t think I’m this weird, crazy, sadistic stranger...
“Well I might be one day.”
Marat/Sade: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,
Te Whaea, 7pm, August 19-28.