Sarah Kane was born in Essex on 3 February 1971. She was an English playwright. Both parents were journalists and deeply religious. She rejected the beliefs. She studied drama at Bristol University, graduating with first class honours, then did an MA at Birmingham University.
Kane struggled with severe depression for many years and was twice voluntarily admitted to the Maudsley Hospital in London. However, she wrote consistently, if slowly, throughout her adult life. A suicide attempt with sleeping pills was unsuccessful but a few days later on 20 February 1999 she hung herself in the hospital where she was being treated.
Kane originally wanted to be a poet, but decided that she was unable to convey her thoughts and feelings through poetry. She wrote that she was attracted to the stage because "theatre has no memory, which makes it the most existential of the arts...
The cruelty of soldier in Blasted was taken from the book treating of violence present on football stadiums. There was described a story of a policeman who posed as a fan of Manchester United. The policeman was exposed and then a real furious fan sucked out his eye, bit it off and spat it out, leaving him in such condition.
Sarah Kane claimed that her art was only a shadow of reality that is much more difficult to bear. She explained number of critics that were against her that it is easier to be outraged by its presentation in the theatre and don’t notice that it has something in common with reality.
When we finally break through cut limbs, picked eyes and omnipresent violence, we can realise the fear of man who lives in the world without spirit. This man cannot exist and show what is he really like, because the world doesn’t gives chances those who are weak, want to be honest and quiet. Because this world orders to be hard and to win all the time.
Sarah Kane faces a tragedy of a man. She decorates neither a human, nor the world. Perhaps that’s why there’s a lot of objections to her and her plays. What’s interesting, somebody said that she writes about her life, things that hurt her, so actors having performed in the theatre aren’t applauded, because it would be unnatural if someone's real tragedy was given a big hand.
The key in reading her play is to distance yourself. Basically, in her drama she doesn’t agree on the world, where all cruelties that pour out of newspapers, radio or TV became an abstraction and nobody pays attention to them any more. This drama seems to be a cry for love, craving for love and shout…
"Once you have perceived that life is very cruel, the only response is to live with as much humanity, humour and freedom as you can".
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Like in Shakespeare's Hamlet [4-39], in which words are like 'daggers', language becomes a weapon used to asserts one's power over someone else. Little by little, ,Ian starts hurting Cate physically as well. She only wants to be friendly with him and obviously does not seek for any sexual relationship at all; the stage directions clearly indicate that she smiles at him with 'a big smile, friendly and non-sexual [4-40]'. But Ian kisses her without her agreement and finally rapes her.
But the worst is that he keeps on alternating violence and tender words. He insults her but repeats that he loves her, that he only wants her own good:
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Ian |
Cate, love. I'm trying to look after you. Stop you getting hurt. |
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Cate |
You hurt me. |
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Ian |
No, I love you. [4-41] |
He manages to make her feel guilty by convincing her that she is the torturer and that he is the victim. Kane says that, in Blasted, Ian shows a 'self deprecating self pity which seems to [her] completely accurate'. Cate does not want to make love with him but he rubs himself against her and keeps on saying that she provokes her. He tells her 'Don't pity me, Cate. You don't have to fuck me 'cause I'm dying, but don't push your cunt in my face then take it away 'cause I stick my tongue out [4-42]'. This cruel and violent behaviour is a way for him to assert his power over her; he wants to control her, as Aleks Sierz says, 'to bully her into submission [4-43]'.
But sometimes, the situation is reversed: Cate is in control and Ian shows his weaknesses. At first, Cate tries to rebel: she tells him that she does not love him anymore and that he is a 'nightmare'. After he rapes her, she revenges by tearing the arms off his jacket. She also beats him, threatens him with a gun and eventually tries to castrate him. But the reason of this last attempt is not very clear. Cate surprisingly takes the initiative to have sex with Ian, but is it because she has premeditated to revenge or because she really loves him? She bites his penis when he confesses that he is a killer, and her act can also be seen as a reaction to what he has said. At the end, roles are completely reversed: Ian is blind, he is the one who needs protection and he begs Cate not to leave him alone. She goes away but she eventually comes back and stays with him. Therefore their relationship is very complex. Even if they make each other suffer, they paradoxically need each other. They need each other's protection and have true feelings for each other. There is a moving moment when Ian sincerely tells Cate that he needs her, that with her 'the world seems different'. Their love is so strong that it survives death since they both die but meet again in a sort of hell.
Sarah Kane was born in Essex on 3 February 1971
Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death.
They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of extreme and violent stage action.
Kane identified some of her inspirations as expressionist theatre and Jacobean tragedy.
Critics, have seen her work as part of a movement that broke away from the naturalistic tendencies of much 20th century English theatre.
Kane's published work consists of five plays, one short film, Skin, and two newspaper articles for The Guardian.
She commited suicide on 20th February 1999.
Her works:
Blasted