Sarah Kane Archives - North West End UK

I have heard Cleansed be described as unreviewable. Is this owing to its explicit, horrific imagery? Or its polarisation of audiences into the enthused and the disgusted? Tinkler, a doctor-drug-dealer, acts as puppeteer to lovers Rod and Carl; to siblings-turned lovers Graham and Grace; and to the juvenile Robin. Set in a university - although deeply unclear until spelled out by Dan Rebellato’s poignant programme notes - the trios and pairs of people are stretched to their limit. The initial scenes take on surreal stakes. The smallest of choices bear the greatest of consequences. The question of why these choices are made seem to be the play’s very pulse. The choreography was captivating, unsurprising given it is a recognisable Frecknall feature. Muscular contractions are reminiscent...

‘At 4.48 when depression visits, I shall hang myself to my lover’s breathing’. Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis contains many lines like the one above that simply go through you. The play is a beautiful and terrifying exploration of the pain, anguish, despair, boredom and paralysis that accompany someone thinking of killing themselves. The work has an obvious resonance because it is Kane’s last before her own suicide, but the quality of the writing is such that it would be wrong to say that this is why the play is so impactful. Kane mixes honest, brutal statements with poetic, even biblical passages; lucid descriptions of a prescription with strange lists of numbers and staccato strings of words ‘flicker, punch, slash, dab, wring, press, burn, slash’. It is a startling piece of writing, w...

Tag: Sarah Kane

Cleansed – The Almeida

4.48 Psychosis – Royal Court