Isabelle Huppert reads Sade, Southbank Centre

‘Isabelle Huppert reads Sade: Juliette and Justine, the Vice and the Virtue’ will have its UK premier at the Southbank Centre this June: for one night only.

In this one-woman show, award-winning French actress Huppert will play two diametrically opposed sisters from the Marquis de Sade’s scandalous novels. Sade was a notorious nobleman, novelist, libertine and philosopher who rose to infamy in 18^th-century France. He had a taste for the shocking, erotic and obscene: the word sadism is derived from his name.

Huppert will play both Juliette and Justine, title characters of two of Sade’s post-revolutionary novels. In ‘Nouvelle Justine’ the virtuous young protagonist’s moral life results in misery. Yet in ‘Juliette’, her amoral sister revels in a disreputable and passionate lifestyle. These works, bursting with philosophical debate on topics such as religion, morality and sex, have been combined for the stage by Raphaël Enthoven.

Isabelle Huppert is one of the most famous French actresses working today, and is famed for her courageous and engaging performances. She has won numerous international film awards, including those at Cannes and the Cesars. Most recently, she won a Golden Globe in 2017 for her stunning performance in Paul Verhoeven's controversial film Elle.

Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre members on Tuesday 27 February and to the public on Wednesday 28 February