Blasted by Sarah Kane

Blasted was one of the most infamous plays of the 20th century, as stated in the article “Sarah Kane’s first play Blasted returns” by Simon Stephens. I was quite interested to know if its power is based on its renown. It does not. I was interested in finding out how well the play holds up against the test of time. Not at all. It continues to be terrifying, humorous, and touching simultaneously, just as it has appeared to many individuals over the last 15 years. The naturalistic special bounds are shattered in the play The Blasted by Sarah Kane (Stephens). This is accomplished via non-naturalistic characters and a lack of understanding of the passage of time in character growth and narrative. The play’s action takes place in a plush suite in a posh hotel in Leeds. The drama opens with an investigation into the violent relationship between Ian and Cate. The play “The Blasted” by Sarah Kane is notable among modern texts for its extensive portrayal of non-naturalistic traits and a lack of awareness of the passage of time.

Even from a strictly aesthetic point of view, Blasted is remarkable in its own right. From the tenderness of the hotel’s flowers to the pathos of Cate, a vegetarian, removing the ham from her sandwiches to the terrifying, oddly balletic tableaux that conclude the play, there is no question in our minds that this is a writer who had faith in her audience’s capacity to respond to imagery. The visual richness of the play is perhaps the factor that has been most influential in motivating several productions of the play over the last 15 years in German-speaking countries (Stephens). As a result of our conversation, I am aware that Holmes is anxious about the possibility that the more extravagant works produced by his German contemporaries would eclipse his work’s comparative restraint and simplicity. However, the comedy that is quintessentially English emerges because of this director’s interpretation of the play.

According to the article titled “Blasted: Cannibalism and Nudity. The book “The Loony Left will adore it!” by Letts, Blasted is an excellent illustration of how the Left glorifies ugliness. It pushes this to an almost self-parody level, offering scenes of masturbating, gay rape, male nudity, and a deranged soldier dressed in camouflage cream and fatigues. Consequently, it seems as if the audience is being presented in a traditional social realism drama (Letts). However, towards the conclusion of the second scene, the author inserts non-realistic occurrences when a soldier bursts into a rifle, generating a big explosion that blasts the hotel, leaving a giant hole in the hotel wall. This incident is illustrative of the author’s choice to deviate from reality.

The dramatic occurrences bring about a shift in the realistic convention route, which then leads to a direction that is more bizarre and violent. The explosion, as a result, causes the naturalistic hotel’s stability to collapse. The audience is still on edge due to the juxtaposition of natural and unreal occurrences that marked the beginning and conclusion of the first and second scenes, respectively, which has raised worries about the setting of the play now being performed. The incidents cause people to wonder if the play is still in the hotel room or has moved closer to a combat zone (Letts). The dramatic occurrences create the sense that one is in a combat zone; nevertheless, it is still unknown whether the conflict has reached Leeds at this point. The author’s opinions were likely impacted by the war that was going on in Bosnia at the time that the play was being written. The contradicting features show this. However, there is no straightforward naturalistic response to the issues that are most usually posed.

As per the “Sarah Kane’s Controversial 1990s Play Blasted Feels Prescient in the #MeToo Era” article, the progression of events, on the other hand, presents obstacles to both realism and a sense of time while the play is being staged. After the explosion, a massive hole was left in the hotel’s walls. This hole avoided the naturalism bounders already in place, indicating how flimsy the super border might be separating the death and life zones. A shift from the play’s first scene, which consists of calm conversations between the characters, to the play’s second scene, which consists of surreal horrors, is signaled by the big hole. Despite the play’s lack of naturalism and seeming ignorance of the passage of time, the play does include several natural aspects and a distinct awareness of the passage of time (Perkovic). The author does not change any of the essential components of a modern drama, including the characters’ names, ages, and accents. Cate, for example, is portrayed as a middle-aged journalist who is naive and gullible, making her the target of Ian’s abuse because of these characteristics.

As a result of the play taking place in an English setting, the standard English language is used throughout. The author also does a great job of flawlessly linking the formal features of the play’s bitartrate composition based on her knowledge of events occurring in her immediate area. The writer incorporates naturalist beginning and opening stage instructions into the story. Despite the play’s brevity, the author seems to adhere to play performance standards by giving the characters distinct speech styles, birthplaces, age ranges, and social classes (Perkovic). In addition, the author provides a detailed explanation of the meta-information, such as the characters’ outfits and physical appearance. An excerpt from the author’s description of Ian reads: “He wears tinted spectacles and a brown leather jacket.” The author’s ability to preserve an intellectual grasp of time is also maintained when events such as war describe the age during which the play is being written.

Works Cited

Letts, Quentin. “Blasted: Cannibalism and Nudity. The Loony Left Will Love It!” Mail Online, 4 Nov. 2010, www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1326742/Blasted-Cannibalism-nudity-The-Loony-Left-love-it.html. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.

Perkovic, Jana. “Sarah Kane’s Controversial 1990s Play Blasted Feels Prescient in the #MeToo Era.” The Conversation, 30 Aug. 2018, theconversation.com/sarah-kanes-controversial-1990s-play-blasted-feels-prescient-in-the-metoo-era-99759. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.

Stephens, Simon. “Sarah Kane’s Debut Play Blasted Returns.” The Guardian, 24 Oct. 2010, www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/oct/24/sarah-kane-blasted. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.