Blasted

by Sarah Kane

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780413766205
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/24/2009
Series:	Modern Plays
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.05(h) x 0.22(d)

About the Author

Sarah Kane studied at Bristol and Birmingham universities. Recognised as a highly influential new vo ice in European theatre, her work was championed by the Royal Court. She died in February 1999, aged 28.

Editorial Reviews

I do not think I've yet seen a play that can beat Sarah Kane's sustained onslaught on the sensibilities for sheer unadulterated brutalism.

Evening Standard

Sarah Kane's first play was hugely controversial when staged at the Royal Court in 1995 and, if the intervening years have diminished its shock value a little, it remains a deeply divisive piece about the reality of violence, a sensory onslaught will prompt walkouts but also inspire epiphanies.” —Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard (London), 29.10.10

“Blasted is undoubtedly a landmark of modern theatre, its moral force at once uncanny and explosive.” —Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard (London), 29.10.10

“Kane's play is wild, but artful too.” —Susannah Clapp, Observer, 31.10.10

“this is a play of exceptional power and prescience.” —Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 1.11.10

“now rightly regarded as a milestone in British theatre.” —Paul Callan, Daily Express, 5.11.10

“Twenty years after it opened to critical incomprehension and outrage, there's no way that Sarah Kane's Blasted can be dismissed as a naive shocker. It's far too smartly crafted for that. The play wears its magpie borrowings on its sleeve - from Brecht to Beckett to Pinter - and still rings loudly with the clarity of Kane's own bell-like Cassandra voice.” —Guardian

“Blasted emerges yet again as a devastating achievement, a play of furious passion and thrilling theatrical audacity . . . a landmark play of undiminished power.” —The Times

From the Publisher