Les Mains Sales

Les Mains Sales (Dirty Hands) is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). It was first performed on 2 April 1948 at the Theatre Antoine in Paris, directed by Pierre Valde and starring François Périer, Marie Olivier and André Luguet.

A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician.

Translations and adaptations
Translated into English, entitled Dirty Hands.

The original text
Published in Paris by Gallimard, 1948.

Performance history in South Africa
1951: Presented by the University of Cape Town’s University Dramatic Society at the Little Theatre in August, directed by Donald Inskip.

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