Writings
delicate emotions
horros / thrillers
nursery rhymes / narrative poems
- The Scholar
- Interlude I
- The Boy
- Interlude II
- The Aristocrat
- Interlude III
- The Exorcist
- Epilogue
Dramaturgy / PLAYWRIGHTing
delicate emotions
horros / thrillers
nursery rhymes / narrative poems
Dramaturgy / PLAYWRIGHTing
BLASTED
PROGRAMME NOTES
BLASTED
PROGRAMME NOTES
This is a writing for speculative design
Word count: 1182
Approximate reading time: 5 minutes
Word count: 1182
Approximate reading time: 5 minutes
Spain(excerpts)
W.H. Auden
To-morrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,
The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion;
To-morrow the bicycle races
Through the suburbs on summer evenings. But to-day the struggle.
Sarah Kane and Blasted
Sarah Kane’s name as a playwright became known after the fierce
attack the premiere her play, Blastedat Royal Court Upstairs in 1995 received by critics and audiences alike. Its depiction of violence such as rape and mutilation made frontpage headlines
with one description reads ‘a disgusting feast of filth.’ She would continue
producing works using visceral language and imaginative forms. On February 20,
1999, Sarah took her own life (aged 28).
Two years later, when Blastedwas revived by Royal Court at its Downstairs, it was positively reviewed. With time, people seemed to understand and receive the work better. The 2010 Lyric Hammersmith revival won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.
Blasted starts with two characters, a middle-aged Ian, and a young Cate, interrupted by a soldier. It is to be understood by many a critical product responding to the ‘unfolding, unbelievable atrocities’ happened during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995 and a fierce confrontation of the brutality of violence, or ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’[4]Written almost three decades ago, Blastedwith its alarming prescience still, if not more so, puts audience today at the edge of their seats with utter discomfort; what once deemed absurdly extreme now seems disquietingly close to reality.
Sarah Kane deliberately presented violence onstage because she needed the audience to witness, experience, and, most importantly, react against it. Sarah said to Bollington that ‘the wall between so-called civilisation and what happened in central Europe (Bosnian War) is very, very thin and it can get torn down at any time’s Individual acts of violence are seeds that, if given leave to grow, will turn into trees of conflict and warfare.
However, behind the gore and glume of abuse, sifting through the brutality and chaos of violence, Blastedremained hopeful of the light in times of darkness. Even when living itself becomes unbearable, people persevere. Cate perseveres. Love perseveres.
Two years later, when Blastedwas revived by Royal Court at its Downstairs, it was positively reviewed. With time, people seemed to understand and receive the work better. The 2010 Lyric Hammersmith revival won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.
Blasted starts with two characters, a middle-aged Ian, and a young Cate, interrupted by a soldier. It is to be understood by many a critical product responding to the ‘unfolding, unbelievable atrocities’ happened during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995 and a fierce confrontation of the brutality of violence, or ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’[4]Written almost three decades ago, Blastedwith its alarming prescience still, if not more so, puts audience today at the edge of their seats with utter discomfort; what once deemed absurdly extreme now seems disquietingly close to reality.
Sarah Kane deliberately presented violence onstage because she needed the audience to witness, experience, and, most importantly, react against it. Sarah said to Bollington that ‘the wall between so-called civilisation and what happened in central Europe (Bosnian War) is very, very thin and it can get torn down at any time’s Individual acts of violence are seeds that, if given leave to grow, will turn into trees of conflict and warfare.
However, behind the gore and glume of abuse, sifting through the brutality and chaos of violence, Blastedremained hopeful of the light in times of darkness. Even when living itself becomes unbearable, people persevere. Cate perseveres. Love perseveres.
Figure 1 Typology of Violence
UK 2021 Domestic Violence
UK Police recorded 845,734 cases of domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales this year at the end of March 2021. In London, one eighth of reported crimes at Met Police are domestic violence.
Major Conflicts in the Last Three Years
2019
India-Pakistan Standoff
Gaza-Israel Clashes
Persian Gulf Crisis (ongoing)
Metekel Conflict (ongoing)
India-Pakistan Standoff
Gaza-Israel Clashes
Persian Gulf Crisis (ongoing)
Metekel Conflict (ongoing)
2020
China-India Skirmishes (ongoing)
Second Nagorno-Karabakh war
Western Saharan clashes (ongoing)
Western Togoland Rebellion (ongoing)
Tigray War (ongoing)
China-India Skirmishes (ongoing)
Second Nagorno-Karabakh war
Western Saharan clashes (ongoing)
Western Togoland Rebellion (ongoing)
Tigray War (ongoing)
2021
Israel–Palestine Crisis
Afghanistan–Iran Clashes
Armenia–Azerbaijan Border Crisis (ongoing)
Panjshir Conflict (ongoing )
Israel–Palestine Crisis
Afghanistan–Iran Clashes
Armenia–Azerbaijan Border Crisis (ongoing)
Panjshir Conflict (ongoing )
Blasted Now
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The domestication of the internet permits people accesses to
information without restrictions of time and space. The rise of social media
pushes it to a new level. This connectedness and immediacy make accessing acts
violence easier than ever. Type the right words in a search engine, hundreds of
thousands of articles, pictures, videos will pop up within a second.
Naturally, one would ask, in this day and age, what is the point of staging violence in theatre when we have so much exposure in everyday life already? The operative word here is ‘exposure’: a state of having no protection while experiencing. The information we get through media technology are replica. Walter Benjamin argues that in the age of mechanical reproduction, the replicated piece does not possess the ‘aura,’ or, its presence in time and space. One would not be as easily moved by knowing through a replica as by witnessing the acts of violence. Ian was a tabloid journalist who wrote apathetically about violence and tragedies until he experienced it first-hand. And by presenting this to you, Sarah makes the audience assume the humane role of denouncing violence.
The reality is sometimes violent, and the characters in the news articles we read are real people. This production aims to enhance the presence in time and space by shifting from replica to where it happens. In doing so, one can associate what they were told and what they saw and thus re-sensitise the brutality and dehumanising nature of violent acts.
Naturally, one would ask, in this day and age, what is the point of staging violence in theatre when we have so much exposure in everyday life already? The operative word here is ‘exposure’: a state of having no protection while experiencing. The information we get through media technology are replica. Walter Benjamin argues that in the age of mechanical reproduction, the replicated piece does not possess the ‘aura,’ or, its presence in time and space. One would not be as easily moved by knowing through a replica as by witnessing the acts of violence. Ian was a tabloid journalist who wrote apathetically about violence and tragedies until he experienced it first-hand. And by presenting this to you, Sarah makes the audience assume the humane role of denouncing violence.
The reality is sometimes violent, and the characters in the news articles we read are real people. This production aims to enhance the presence in time and space by shifting from replica to where it happens. In doing so, one can associate what they were told and what they saw and thus re-sensitise the brutality and dehumanising nature of violent acts.
The Hotel
It is a specially adapted space in Central London, resembling
a hotel setting. The first two scenes of the play are performed by a resident singer
through song and story. The audience can see Cate, Ian, and the Soldier
entering and hear occasional screaming.
The singer leaves after Scene 2. They will hear a bomb go off and an emergency announcement. The audience then will be directed to Room B. There is a hole on the wall as the result of the bombing, through which one can see the happenings in Room A. After the ending, the audience will be directed to the replicated diner which is in ruins.
The singer leaves after Scene 2. They will hear a bomb go off and an emergency announcement. The audience then will be directed to Room B. There is a hole on the wall as the result of the bombing, through which one can see the happenings in Room A. After the ending, the audience will be directed to the replicated diner which is in ruins.
The Exit
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The audience will be invited to help restore the replicated
diner, to reject violence, to take back control. This production of Blasted is a journey through the tunnel;
one that designed to give hope and control.
Figure 2 (Imagined) Scenography Sketches
Bibliography
Billington, Michael, ‘Picking Up the Pieces: 1990-97’, in State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 (London: Faber and Faber, 2007)
Elkin, Meghan, Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2021, 24 November 2021, <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwalesoverview/november2021> [accessed 8 December 2021]
Hattenstone, Simon ‘A Sad Hurrah (part 2)’, The Guardian, (2000), <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/01/stage1> [accessed 5 December 2021]
Laurence Olivier Awards, Blasted named Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 13 March 2011, <https://web.archive.org/web/20120419121509/http:/www.olivierawards.com/news/view/item115075/Blasted-named-Outstanding-Achievement-in-an-Affiliate-Theatre> [accessed 3 December 2021]
Peña, Laura López, ‘Witnesses Inside/Outside the Stage. The Purpose of Representing Violence in Edward Bond’s Saved (1965) And Sarah Kane’s Blasted (1995)’, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional 29 (2009), 111-118
Rebellato, Dan, Sarah Kane Interview, audio recording, 3 November 1998, <http://www.danrebellato.co.uk/sarah-kane-interview> [accessed 5 December 2021]
Royal Court, Blasted, 12 January 1995, <https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/blasted/> [accessed 3 December 2021]
World Report on Violence and Health, ed. by Etienne Krug and others, (Geneva: UN WHO, 2002)