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Sarah Kane

is widely recognized as one of the most radical and influential writers of the last twenty-five years. She was at the front of what was once described as Britain’s In-Yer-Face theatre movement (along with Mark Ravenhill of Shopping and Fucking fame) and her work has been described alternately as a “Theatre of Extremes” and an “Ethics of Catastrophe.” She wrote five plays (Blasted, Phaedra’s Love, Cleansed, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis) and one short film (Skin) before committing suicide in 1999 at the age of 28.

Her first play, Blasted, which premiered in 1995, created a furor in England and started an intense debate in newspapers and tabloids as to whether or not such brutal work should be funded or should even allowed to be performed. During this period, despite the staunch and virulent opposition from critics, she received strong support from The Royal Court Theatre, an institution with a strong history of identifying and providing a home for adventurous playwrights. Additional support came from prominent playwrights Edward Bond and Harold Pinter, each of

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News & Articles

4.48 Psychosis: The Struggle of a Young Playwright

by Brian Lobel

Sarah Kane burst on the London stage at the age of 24, in a media frenzy of scorn, derision and distaste for her work. It was the kind of response that might devastate most young playwrights. Sarah Kane was not like most young playwrights. By the time of her tragic death in 1999, Kane’s work had garnered international critical acclaim. Her plays continue to be translated and performed throughout the world today, with a growing awareness of this troubled playwright and her troubling brand of theater. The controversy began over Blasted, Kane’s first play presented at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1995. Her debut work featured a litany of graphic images pertaining to rape, war and dehumanization. Some critics called Blasted "a disgusting feast of filth," and a few even called for the Royal Court to be stripped of its governmental subsidy for producing the work. In the midst of that critical firestorm, several noted British playwrights quickly came to Kane’s defense, including Caryl Churchill

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Sarah Kane

Sarah Kane was born in 1971 and died in 1999. She wrote five plays and one screenplay. Despite initial critical hostility and outrage, her plays are now regarded as modern classics and have had hundreds of productions around the world.

Her first play, BLASTED, was produced at the Royal Court Theatre in 1995. Its innovative dramatic structure and uncompromising treatment of rape and the atrocities of war were too much for the critics and drew howls of derision from broadsheet and tabloid alike. Not since Howard Brenton's ROMANS IN BRITAIN had there been such a theatrical scandal, but not all reaction was negative, with support and admiration for the play coming from (among others) Edward Bond, Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill.

Sarah Kane's second play, PHAEDRA'S LOVE (produced at the Gate Theatre, London, in May 1996) and her third, CLEANSED (which opened in the Royal Court Theatre's temporary home, the Duke of York's, in May 1998) received similarly unappreciative reviews in the UK, but elsewhere, especially in Europe, the plays' structural innovations, non-natura