Sarah Kane

This morning we came across a copy of Sarah Kane’s ‘Crave’ (which she said she wrote when she had lost faith in love). Kane was a British playwright whose work perhaps is not very often found on our bookshelves. When her first play ‘Blasted’ was performed at the Royal Court in 1995, it was received with a maelstrom of vilification by many critics for its explicit scenes; rape scenes, cannibalism, foul-language and brutality abound. Despite of this initial bitter reception, Kane’s work was eventually welcomed and performed in many European Theatres, Kane also directed her second play herself ‘Phaedra’s Love’ (A re-telling following Euripides). Her plays immediately became targets for biographical speculation by critics, perhaps, as much as that of Sylvia Plath’s work. Gruesome and vivid as they are, Kane’s work offers insight into the escalating and destructive behaviour of humanity, perhaps even implicating the audience in a shared responsibility.  

Kane suffered from depression for a long time in her life, which she manifested in her pseudo-suicide note '4.48 Psychosis', which was staged posthumously at the Royal Court. 

We recommend you reading Kane's 'Phaedra's Love' alongside Euripides's 'Hippolytus' 

 “All art is subversive, either in form or content” - Sarah Kane