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The Assassin (Les mains sales) by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Frank Hauser

Written by the existentialist, French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, this rarely performed play is set during the second world war in a fictional country. The tension and focus are on the main character, Hugo Barine’s who has joined Illyria's Proletarian Party to forget his past. In order to gain acceptance and to escape the label of a mere bourgeois intellectual, he begs the leaders of his faction to allow him to take direct action - to become an assassin. His target will be the Party leader, Hoederer who has agreed to negotiate deals with the Fascist leaders of Illyria to get his hands dirty for the party's political survival. The worlds of politics and philosophy collide as Hugo struggles to find the psychological moment. Tortured by his own indecision and self-loathing, he finds comfort and purpose from a most unlikely source. The Assassin highlights our own fragile world order where political fundamentalism lead to acts of terror against fellow human beings and where faith is not what some die for, but what they are prepared to kill for.

This page was last updated on 25/04/2008