From en.wikipedia.org:
[Play by Sarah Kane] [the video game] [date=October 2020] [date=March 2013]
{{Infobox play | name = Blasted | image = Blasted.jpg | image_size = | caption
= Cover of the Methuen edition | writer = Sarah Kane | chorus = | characters =
Ian<br>Cate<br>Soldier | mute = | setting = An expensive hotel room in Leeds,
UK | premiere = [1995] | place = Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London |
orig_lang = English | series = | subject = War, sexual violence | genre = |
web = }} _BLASTED_ is the first play by the British author Sarah Kane. It was
first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London.[1]
** Synopsis
The play is set in an expensive hotel room in Leeds. Ian, a foul-mouthed
middle-aged tabloid journalist has brought a young woman, Cate, to the room
for the night. Cate is much younger than Ian, emotionally fragile, and
seemingly intellectually simple.
Throughout Scene 1, Ian tries to seduce Cate, but she resists. All the while,
Ian proudly parades his misogyny, racism and homophobia. The scene ends with
the sound of spring rain.
Scene 2 begins the next morning. Ian engages in frottage with Cate during one
of her fits. Afterwards, Cate performs oral sex on Ian, biting him. Cate
retires to the bathroom. A soldier unexpectedly enters the room brandishing a
gun, and finds Cate has escaped through the bathroom window. The hotel room
is then struck by a mortar bomb, and the scene ends with the sound of summer
rain.
In Scene 3, the hotel room is in ruins; the bomb has blasted a hole in the
wall. The soldier and Ian begin to talk, and it is gradually revealed that
the hotel is located in the midst of a brutal war. The soldier tells Ian
about appalling atrocities that he has witnessed and taken part in, involving
rape, torture and genocide, and says he has done everything as an act of
revenge for the murder of his girlfriend. He then rapes Ian, and sucks out
his eyes. The scene ends with the sound of autumn rain.
In Scene 4, Ian lies blinded next to the soldier, who has committed suicide.
Cate returns, describing the city being overrun by soldiers, and bringing with
her a baby that she has rescued. The baby dies, and she buries it in a hole
in the floorboards and leaves, but not before arguing with Ian about the
utility or futility of praying during a burial. The scene ends with the sound
of heavy winter rain.
Scene 5 consists of a series of brief images, showing Ian crying, masturbating
and even hugging the dead soldier for comfort as he starves in the ruined
room. Eventually, he crawls into the hole with the dead baby and eats it.
The stage direction then reads that Ian dies. It starts raining, and Ian says
"Shit". Cate returns, bringing sausage and gin. The blood seeping down her
legs implies that she has paid for this by having sex with the soldiers
outside. She eats and hand-feeds the rest of her meal to Ian, who says:
"Thank you."[2]
** Notable productions
<!-- Please only add productions with a reference to at least one WP:RS. That
makes it a "Notable production". -->
WORLD PREMIERE (LONDON, 1995)
12 January 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, UK.<br/>Directed
by James Macdonald.
- Ian - Pip Donaghy
- Cate - Kate Ashfield
- Soldier - Dermot Kerrigan
The premiere which prompted headlines labelling the play a "disgusting feast
of filth"<ref name="rct1995"/>
ITALIAN PREMIERE
1997 at Teatro della Limonania, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy. The first
Italian appearance of the play.[date=April 2012]
2001 LONDON REVIVAL
2001 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, London, UK.<br/>Directed by James
Macdonald.
- Ian - Neil Dudgeon
- Cate - Kelly Reilly
- Soldier - Tom Jordan Murphy
The Royal Court revival which received positive reviews.<ref name="rct2001"/>
2005-2006 GERMAN PRODUCTION[3][4]
16th March 2005 at Schaubühne, Berlin, Germany.<br/>Also performed 7th-11th
Nov 2006 at the Barbican, London, UK.<br/>Translated into German by Nils
Tabert. Performed under the title of _Zerbombt_.<br/>Directed by Thomas
Ostermeier.
- Ian - Ulrich Mühe
- Cate - Katharina Schüttler
- Soldier - Thomas Thieme
2008 SITE-SPECIFIC LEEDS PRODUCTION
2008 at Queens Hotel, Leeds, UK.<br/>Directed by Felix Mortimer.
- Ian - Mark Taylor Batty
- Cate - Mariel Kaplan
- Soldier - Ash Layton
Produced in its authentic setting, this production by 19;29 Performance saw
the audience invited into the hotel room Kane set the play within.[5]
NEW YORK PREMIERE PRODUCTION
2008 at the Soho Rep, New York City, New York, U.S.<br/>Directed by Sarah
Benson.[6]
- Ian - Reed Birney
- Cate - Marin Ireland
- Soldier - Louis Cancelmi
2010 LONDON REVIVAL
2010 at Lyric Hammersmith, London, UK.<br/>Directed by Sean Holmes.
- Ian - Danny Webb
- Cate - Lydia Wilson
- Soldier - Aidan Kelly
A major revival of the play, 15 years on from its debut, by contemporary of
Sarah Kane and the Lyric's Artistic Director Sean Holmes. The production won
an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.[7]
2015 SHEFFIELD PRODUCTION
2015 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, UK.<br/>Directed by Richard Wilson.
- Ian - Martin Marquez
- Cate - Jessica Barden
- Soldier - Mark Stanley
As part of the Sarah Kane season with staged productions of _Blasted_, _Crave_
and _4.48 Psychosis_ and semi-staged readings of _Phaedra's Love_ and
_Cleansed_.[8][9]
2019 VIENNA PRODUCTION
2019 at TheaterArche, Vienna, Austria.<br/>Directed by Tom Crawley.[10]
First original language production of the play in Austria, produced by Mental
Eclipse Theater House in cooperation with Vienna theatre project.[11][12]<!--
Please only add productions with a reference to at least one WP:RS. That
makes it a "Notable Production". -->
** Critical reception
The initial performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely
attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as an attempt to
shock the audience.[13] However, critics have subsequently reassessed it; for
example {"content": "''", "type": "DELIM", "wikinode": "WikiDelimNode"}The
Guardian{"content": "'''", "type": "DELIM", "wikinode": "WikiDelimNode"}s
Michael Billington, who savaged the play in his first review, later recanted
in the wake of Kane's suicide: "I got it wrong, as I keep saying. She was a
major talent. Apparently, Harold Pinter said at her memorial service that she
was a poet, and I think that's dead right."[14] After seeing a revival of the
play, an _Evening Standard_ reviewer Annie Ferguson wrote "How shrill and
silly the 1995 hullabaloo and hysteria seemed last night when _Blasted_
returned to the Royal Court. It is, and always was, a play with a fine, moral
purpose."[15] It was listed in _The Independent_ as one of the 40 best plays
ever.[16]
** Notes
[reflist]
** Bibliography
- Kane, Sarah, _Sarah Kane: Complete Plays_ . London: Methuen (2001), [0-413-74260-1]
- Saunders, Graham. _Love Me or Kill Me: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes_ . Manchester, Eng.: Manchester UP, 2002.
- Sierz, Aleks. "Blasted" (see http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15070) . _The Literary Encyclopedia_ . 3 June 2004. Accessed 25 Feb. 2007. (Paid subscription required for access to full article; only a portion accessible otherwise.)
** External links
- BBC Newsnight report on _Blasted_ broadcast in January 1995. Hosted by Jeremy Paxman, featuring Daily Mail critic Jack Tinker and Royal Court artistic director Stephen Daldry (see https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02j7cl7)
[Sarah Kane] [OlivierAward AffiliateTheatre]
Category:Plays by Sarah Kane Category:1995 plays Category:1990s debut plays
Category:British tragedy plays Category:Plays set in hotels Category:Plays set
in England Category:Plays about rape Category:Plays about suicide
Category:Plays about cannibalism Category:Plays about prostitution