Sarah Kane – författare

When Blasted was first produced at the Royal Court in 1995 it was hailed jointly as a masterpiece and a 'disgusting piece of filth' (Daily Mail). Subsequently that play, and the others that followed, have been produced all over the world. This anthology includes Kane's never-before-published Channel 4 screenplay, Skin."Kane wrote simply and starkly about the world she saw around her...a mature and vividly theatrical response to the pain of living." Guardian

First single volume edition of this bold version of a classic by Sarah Kane Sarah Kane's radical reworking of Seneca's classical tragedy of incest and unrequited lust. Phaedra's Love is a bold and provocative revisioning of the story of Phaedra's obsessive and destructive love of her son Hippolytus and his violent punishment by Theseus.Kane's achievement is to have humanised the antics of the pounding royals. Her sulphurous dialgoue is full of reeking toughness' Evening Standard 'Sarah Kane's writing is both daring and accomplished' Time Out 'Pure theatre or rather impure theatre: dirty, alarming, dangerous' Observer 'delivered with punch and laced with black humour' Financial Times

Set in an unnamed city from which voices and images spring, Crave charts the disintegration of a human mind under the pressures of love, loss and desire "A hugely unnerving theatrical experience, shot through with the language of the Bible and a genuinely poetic richness" (Time Out) "A dramatic poem in the late-Beckett style, sometimes a chamber quartet for lost voices" (The Times) Produced by Paines Plough and Bright Ltd (Guy Chapman and Paul Spyker), Crave premiered at the Traverse Theatre for the 1998 Edinburgh Festival. It received its English premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in September 1998.

This stunning play from the controversial author of Blasted premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London in spring 1998 A provocative play from the notorious author of Blasted, which probes the nightmarish world of twenty-somethings coming to grips with sexuality, social ostracism and the effects of drugs. Cleansed premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in spring 1998.Kane's first play Blasted caused major controversy, furore and acclaim amongst critics and throughout the theatre world

4.48 Psychosis was written throughout the autumn and winter of 1998-99 as Kane battled with one of her recurrent bouts of depression. On February 20, 1999, aged 28, the playwright committed suicide. On the page, the piece looks like a poem. No characters are named, and even their number is unspecified. It could be a journey through one person's mind, or an interview between a doctor and his patient.

With an introduction by Graham Whybrow, literary manager of the Royal Court Theatre, this anthology collects the defining plays of the 1980s and 1990s in one volume - Top Girls 'The best British play ever from a woman dramatist' (The Guardian) Hysteria 'One of the most brilliantly original and entertaining new plays I have seen in years' (The Sunday Times) Blasted 'Her dialogue is both sparse and stunning. They will call her mad, but then they said that about Strindberg' (Mail on Sunday) Shopping and F***ing 'A real coup de theatre' (Evening Standard) The Beauty Queen of Leenane 'The most wickedly funny, brilliantly abrasive young dramatist ...a born storyteller' (New York Times)The result is a collection of "must reads" that's excellent value for students and theatre fans alike.

In 1995 Sarah Kane's first full-length play Blasted opened. It became the cause celebre of the theatrical year, making front-page headlines and outraging critics with its depiction of rape, torture and violence in civil war. "sheer unadulterated brutalism" Evening Standard

I know you want to punish me, trying to make me live. In 1995 Sarah Kane's first full-length play Blasted sent shockwaves throughout the theatrical world. Making front-page headlines, the play outraged critics with its depiction of rape, torture and violence in civil war. However, from being roundly condemned by the critics the play is now considered a seminal work of European theatre and has defined an entire era of stage writing.In an expensive hotel room in Leeds, Ian, a middle-aged tabloid journalist, sits with his teenage lover Cate who he attempts to seduce and eventually rapes. As reality dissipates, the room becomes embroiled in civil war as a soldier invades the space and the play descends into apocalyptic scenes of brutality. Blasted's canonical status reflects the raw beauty and terror of Kane's writing. Probing the brutality people inflict upon one another, the suffering and violation, the play also looks at the role of love and the redemption it offers. Unafraid to delve into darkness, this is a provocative, fragmenting piece full of significance and power.Blasted premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in January 1995. Methuen Drama’s iconic Modern Plays series began in 1959 with the publication of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey and has grown over six decades to now include more than 1000 plays by some of the best writers from around the world. This new special edition hardback of Blasted was published to celebrate 60 years of Methuen Drama’s Modern Plays in 2019, chosen by a public vote and features a brand new foreword by Mel Kenyon.

I dreamt that I went to the doctors, and she gave me eight minutes to live. I''d been sitting in the fucking waiting room for half an hour4.48 Psychosis is the last play by Sarah Kane, the controversial contemporary British playwright, who died aged 28 in February 1999.Throughout the piece the audience are plunged into the mind of an unnamed protagonist grappling with severe depression as Kane crafts an unflinching and poetic portrait of a psyche teetering on the edge of oblivion. A quarter century from its debut, the entire original cast and creative team return to the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs to revisit Sarah Kane''s final masterpiece 25 years on.This edition was published to coincide with the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company co-production in June 2025, and the subsequent run at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.

I dreamt that I went to the doctors, and she gave me eight minutes to live. I''d been sitting in the fucking waiting room for half an hour4.48 Psychosis is the last play by Sarah Kane, the controversial contemporary British playwright, who died aged 28 in February 1999.Throughout the piece the audience are plunged into the mind of an unnamed protagonist grappling with severe depression as Kane crafts an unflinching and poetic portrait of a psyche teetering on the edge of oblivion. A quarter century from its debut, the entire original cast and creative team return to the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs to revisit Sarah Kane''s final masterpiece 25 years on.This edition was published to coincide with the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company co-production in June 2025, and the subsequent run at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.

This Student Edition of Sarah Kane's seminal play Blasted features expert and helpful annotation and is an accessible guide for anyone studying or performing the play. This includes a scene-by-scene summary, a detailed commentary on the dramatic, social and political context, and on the themes, characters, language and structure of the play, as well a list of suggested reading, questions for further study and a review of performance history.In 1995 Sarah Kane's first full-length play Blasted sent shockwaves throughout the theatrical world. Making front-page headlines, the play outraged critics with its depiction of rape, torture and violence in civil war. However, from being roundly condemned by the critics ('this disgusting feast of filth' Daily Mail), the play is now considered a seminal work of European theatre and has defined an entire era of stage writing.Blasted's canonical status reflects the raw beauty and terror of Kane's writing. Probing the brutality people inflict upon one another, the suffering and violation, the play also looks at the role of love and the redemption it offers. Unafraid to delve into darkness, this is a provocative, fragmenting piece full of significance and power.

4.48 Psychosis was written throughout the autumn and winter of 1998-99 as Kane battled with one of her recurrent bouts of depression. On February 20, 1999, aged 28, the playwright committed suicide. On the page, the piece looks like a poem. No characters are named, and even their number is unspecified. It could be a journey through one person's mind, or an interview between a doctor and his patient.