Danton's Death
1978Danton's Death is arguably the most dramatic and penetrating study of revolution ever written. Georg Büchner concentrates on that moment in 1794 when the Reign of Terror, already well established, spills over into a total blood-bath. The play, adapted by director Alan Clarke and Stuart Griffiths, both highly imaginative and closely documentary, shows how the great hero of the early phase of the Revolution, Danton, sickened by the excesses of the guillotine, which he helped to create, wants to call a halt. But Robespierre and Saint-Just, leaders of the Jacobins, with a ferocious puritanical zeal, spur on 'the wild horses of the Revolution'.
Acted in
Ian Richardson
as Robespierre
Norman Rodway
as Danton
John Woodnutt
as Fouquier-Tinville
Zoë Wanamaker
as Lucille
Roger Sloman
as Barère
Kate Fahy
as Julie
Anthony Higgins
as Camille
Shane Briant
as Hérault-Séchelles
Don Henderson
as Mercier
Michael Pennington
as Saint-Just
James Aubrey
as Lacroix
Jonathan Adams
as Collot d'Herbois
Christopher Banks
as 2nd Gentleman
Michael Bilton
as 1st Gentleman
Nell Brennan
as Adelaide
Michael Cronin
as Billaud-Varennes
Emma Garden
as Marion
Felicity Gibson
as Marchioness