'Sarah Kane slips easily into the mythic mould. She burst quickly on to the theatre scene: Blasted, in 1995, was an instant scandal. And, after writing four more plays - Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis - over the next four years, she took her own life after a struggle with mental illness. Like the great Romantic poets, Kane was drawn to death. Like the 20th century's icons - like Marilyn, like Jimmy - she died young. What greater end to the life of a young genius than suicide?
'I suppose when a young artist commits suicide, leaving a relatively small body of work, it's natural to want more. We know there are no more Sarah Kane plays to come, so people want more of her. We want to build up the myth. Her death leaves a vacuum that we want to fill. It's an understandable instinct, but not a good one.
'Kane's plays have almost certainly achieved canonical status. All over the world, they are seen and admired. Almost since the arrival of Blasted, she has been regarded as the most important of the new British dramatists. No doubt some of the initial interest in her work was a wish to jump on the bandwagon of sensation that Blasted caused on its UK premiere, but with the passing of time Kane's work has proved its significance.
'There's a danger that we see all of Kane's work as one long preparation for suicide. We shouldn't. Only the last play, 4.48 Psychosis, is a play written during her periods of depression and hospitalisation - and even there, the ending is ambiguous. There's a glimmer of light - but in life or in death? Rather, I think we should look at the plays as the work of a writer of great anger, of sardonic humour, who saw the cruelties of the world but also the human capacity for love.' -- Mark Ravenhill, The Guardian
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4:48 Psychosis: Media
Andrew Jackman 'scene from 4:48 Psychosis'
Trailer: Swedish production
Video: Irish production
Excerpt: British production
Excerpt: Greek production
Excerpt: Venezuelan production
Excerpts: French production
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Further
A Sarah Kane site by Iain Fisher
Sarah Kane Discussion Forum
Sarah Kane Biography
Sarah Kane interviewed
'4:48 Psychosis' Facebook Page
Buy Sarah Kane' The Complete Plays'
Sarah Kane @ In-Yer-Face Theater
'Sarah Kane is my Kurt Cobain'
Sarah Kane's obituary @ The Observer
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4:48 Psychosis
'Much has been written about the troubles of Sarah Kane, starting with the controversy following her first play, Blasted and then continuing long after her sudden suicide at age twenty-eight. For many she has become the classic tortured artist - perhaps to a fault. In his introduction to Sarah Kane: Complete Plays, her friend and colleague David Greig encourages us to focus on the literary qualities of Kane’s work rather than on the “mythology of the author” which he terms “a pointlessly forensic act”. This may be difficult with regard to Kane’s final play, 4:48 Psychosis, an abstract work that presents the mindscape of an individual contemplating suicide and was written just prior to Kane’s own. But to what extent the two events are coincidental or a true example of life imitating art is largely a matter of conjecture.
'One thing is for certain, life under the conditions of 4:48 Psychosis would be an almost non-stop chorus of pain. The play was written during a period of deep depression in Kane’s life, an achievement Greig calls “positively heroic…an act of generosity” but he cautions against looking for clues to someone’s personal history based on the drifting and artificial evidence of a play. The very word play implies something in motion or imagined, like games and pretending. Other authors such as Ken Urban, have pointed out the difficulty, if not impossibility, of separating Kane’s personal life from the themes explored in 4:48 and that in this final play the author and the work are structurally intertwined. Reflecting on comments made by Kane’s literary agent, Mel Kenyon, Urban writes, “Because it is the play that, Kane joked, ‘killed’ her to write, at this particular historical moment, it is hard to read the play outside of biography. Mel Kenyon recently said in an interview, ‘I pretend that [4:48 Psychosis] isn’t a suicide note but it is. It is both a suicide note and something greater than that.’”' -- Mustafa Sakarya, 'A Controlled Detonation'
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p.s. Hey. There's something I need to tell you. I've debated heavily with myself as to whether I should say this or not, and I decided that telling you is the better of the two unhappy options I have. Between the time I last posted here on Saturday and now, it was discovered that the blog's d.l. and commenter Plexus aka Gabe is a fake. He doesn't exist. Someone made him and his story up, using pictures of some unknown boy taken from some unknown place to represent him. There isn't much else to tell you about this except that the person who perpetrated the lie has admitted to what they did, deleted 'Gabe's presence from the internet, and that's that. Everyone will obviously have their own feelings and reaction to this news. Personally, I find this situation pretty difficult. For one thing, there's the obvious resemblance between the 'Gabe' thing and the 'JT Leroy' scam in which my trust and good will and feelings were very heavily and painfully exploited, although the 'Gabe' thing was comparatively brief and discrete. The sad thing is that I thought 'Gabe' was so terrific, sympathetic, funny, talented, promising and just kind of a joy. So, on top of the feelings of deep betrayal, I mourn his loss too. It's a complicated thing. But it bothers me a lot that this blog was one of the places where this fraud was carried out. An atmosphere of trust and welcoming and openness and support is key to what this blog's commenting/p.s. component is all about. I really don't like that the blog and you were taken advantage of. I know that if I were to approach the people who gather on this blog warily and with suspicion, it would pretty much ruin this place, and I think I would stop doing the blog if that were the case. And I want the people who hang out on and participate in the blog to feel as trusting of the community here as possible. As far as I know, this is the only occurrence of local fraud we've had in the five plus years of the blog's existence, and that's pretty good when you think about it, and I don't see this one breach as a reason to increase security or get paranoid. Still, in the heat of this discovery, I'll be honest and say I feel strange and confused about the blog at the moment. That will pass and probably at any second, and I'm going to do the p.s. today as best I can because I don't think altering the way I do things here is the way to go, but my mood is poor on top of my jet lag, and it's going to be partly a matter of getting through this. Feel free to say whatever you want to say about this situation, and, of course, don't feel you need to address it at all if it's not a big deal to you. Sarah Kane is a very interesting artist and topic, and I hope the post will hold your attention and warrant your comments as well. I'm hoping that everything can be back on track here as soon as tomorrow if possible. ** David Ehrenstein, Your thoughts on 'the gay community' were very well put, thank you, and I agree. What a great Lovecraft quote too. Thanks a lot for that too! ** Blake Wood, Hey. I'm sorry. The shows were sold out, and I tried to get you comps up until the day (Friday) you wanted to come, but the comps that we had been allotted were used up very early on, and the only chance would have been if someone with a comp had cancelled, and no one did. Again, I'm sorry. ** Bernard Welt, Hey. I don't know 'The Innocents'. I'll check it out. Agreed on 'God Told Me to', yeah. You head to NYC soon, right? I hope you have a great trip. ** MANCY, Hey. Great, then let's do a post on your work. Basically, you can send me a largish selection of your works in jpeg or related form, plus any links or anything else you think would be relevant, and I can assemble the post, if you like. Or you can assemble a post yourself and send it to me, if you like. We can also talk about the details off-blog, if that would be good. My address is: dcooperweb @gmail.com. Thanks a lot. I really look forward to it. ** Hayden Derk, Hey. Seriously? You're really going to army boot camp? Of course I have a bunch of questions, but you're probably there or on your way already. Man, I hope that works out okay for you. Whatever you do, don't put your writing too far aside, okay? I doubt you would, but you're a hell of a writer, and don't forget that for a second. Check in from there if you can and feel like it, and I'll check your blog when I can to see if you post any news there. Take care. ** JoeM, Yeah, I fear we're in similar boats, my friend. ** Plexus, RIP xxoo. ** Lux, Thank you so much, Lux, for giving my blog the privilege. I owe you another one, man. ** Andrew, Hey. Oh, wonderful. That's a really, really good piece of writing there, my friend. What a total pleasure. I'm so glad you've decided to devote yourself to your writing. And that's proof positive right there. Everyone, the writer and d.l. Andrew has a short and really fine piece of writing newly posted on the Spank Magazine site/blog, and I highly recommend that you check it out. Seems like the obvious thing to do is apply to both the New School and Sarah Lawrence (and wherever else too), and then figure out the financing and cost of living issues down the road. ** Steevee, Hey. I think a song called 'Kill Da Bitch' is enough to keep me away from that album. ** Alan, Hey. Of course things are cool between us, man. Way more than that. I'm sorry things have been so rough for you lately. I just hope things will settle into some kind of good place right away. ** Will Decker, I made it back in one relative piece, yeah, thanks much. ** Sypha, I hadn't heard that Throbbing Gristle broke up again, but I'm not even the tiniest bit surprised. I was aware that Genesis was really not into the reunion, so it makes sense, and it might be all for the best. ** James, Thanks a lot for sending it, James. Winters in Paris are mildish as winters go, with too little snow for my taste, but they have their charms, yes. ** Mark Gluth, Yes, it's true, man. Great to see you, pal. ** The Evil Ghost of JW Veldhoen, Laurie Weeks is terrific, yeah. One of the great tragedies of Alyson Books going under is that they were going to publish her legendary, decades in the making novel. I hope and imagine that some place else will. You still in NYC? Wait, never mind, I saw your Toronto airport post. Francis Bacon, the philosopher, yeah, a little. I've read a little. ** Jake, Hey, J. Thank you! I spent Halloween on a plane, but the night before Halloween was in NYC pretty Halloween-ish, so I feel like I got some. How was yours? ** Allesfliesst, Hey, man. Now that I'm back, I'll get on the 'Jerk' DVD. The Gisele crew is on tour with 'TIHYWD' right now, but I think they'll be back here soon. Did you find a perfect-esque new apartment yet? If not, fingers crossed for today's hunt. ** Nb, Really great to see you in NYC, N. Hope I'll get to you again soon either here or in NYC or you-know-where. ** Bill, Hey, Bill. The flight was rather awful, but what the hell, and it's over, and the jetlag sucks so far, but it'll be in the past soon too, I guess. I never did get to the Thek retrospective, which is a big regret, so I guess I'll see it in LA, and hopefully with you. ** Wolf, Hey, Wolf. Awesome about the Swans show, and wow about the writing to Gira about the book thing. I'll definitely do that. Thanks a lot for bringing that up with him, pal. Obviously, I disagree with you on 'EtV', but so it goes, and I'm in no mood to lay out my case today. I'll just say that your reading of the film re: TBOTD is not only mine as well, it reflects Noe's intention, as he has stated in a couple of the interviews I've read. That unfinished 'misreading' by Oscar is kind of the whole point and structuring principle of the film, including the particular (mis)use of symbolic imagery and mysticism, etc. I got that immediately, and Noe has confirmed that Oscar's sketchy understanding of TBOTD is the film's genesis and the key to understanding it. To me, that was all very clear from the outset. Take care, my bud. ** Tosh, You're here? Of course I want to see you asap. Today, tomorrow? Anytime. Wow, what a totally lucky break for me. Get in touch, I guess? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I've only glanced at the poem right now for a second through jet-lagged eyes and a very weird mood, but I'll read it fully asap. Everyone, here's _Black_Acrylic, and please check his link out: 'My friend Stuart Fallon emailed me a list of 44 words to include in a piece of writing. I made a poem using all the words in order, inspired by my mum who had done a similar "Da Da Dream" poem using a list of crossword solutions. Anyway, this is my effort.' ** Misanthrope, Hey. Oh, maybe I should title those posts ' ... best international male properties ...', since they use that term almost as much as they use the term slave. Great seeing you, George. ** Laurabeth, Yes, of course, I liked it. A lot. And you should definitely write more any time the muse has an 'in' with you, please. ** Pilgarlic, Hey, man. Hope you had a good Halloween. ** David, Happy Two Days After Halloween! ** Jose, Hey, man. ** Paul Curran, I seem to have made it, yeah. Thanks, Paul. Did you get to do Halloween with your kiddo, or did England's Halloween ennui prevent that? ** Chris Cochrane, Hey! No, apparently my future's naysayer was just out to lunch, thankfully. Yeah, the whole experience with 'Them' was just totally amazing from start to finish. I'm so thrilled and happy to have been able to be a part of it, and I really hope it continues, and, in any case, yeah, we should make something else, I totally agree. My address: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. I really look forward to reading the book, and thanks a lot for that, Chris. See you pronto, here and hopefully for totally real too as soon as humanly possible. Lots of love, man. ** Creative Massacre, Oh, that sounds like a pretty good Halloween. Especially scaring the woman. Awesome. A Day of those short films would be really great, of course, thank you, pal. ** Rigby, Someone should design a piece of luggage that looks like a printer and be quick about it. Today is Day of the Dead? Wow. Uh, maybe I'll hit a graveyard then. If not, there's the airborne and internal 'grave' of 'Plexus', I guess. Hope your trip goes really well, man. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Tuesday (today) or soon would be just dandy, thank you so much! Yeah, that 'letting her go' thing is gross. That story about your semi-friend's house gave me the willies. In a good way. Creepy. Uh, I'll go quickly through my weekend 'cos I'm in a weird mood. Saturday: I worked some. This guy interviewed me for New York Press, mostly about 'Them' but also about 'Homme au Bain', which he said he thinks is going to be released in the US, which is cool but kind of surprises me. I was out walking in SoHo when I saw this woman standing on the sidewalk ahead staring at me. As I walked by her, she said something to me in Spanish, and I stopped and said to her, 'I don't speak Spanish'. She looked at me really intensely and said, 'I said you're going to die tomorrow', and then she walked away. That freaked me out, even though I'm not a believer in that sort of seeing eye stuff. But I did feel kind of unnerved for the rest of the day. Anyway, she was wrong or just crazy, it turns out, since I'm still alive as far as I can tell. Then we did the last two 'Them' shows. The first one was okay, but it was kind of the weirdest one for some reason. It was also the performance that got filmed for posterity, which is unfortunate, but I think the weirdness was felt internally and not all that apparent. The second and last show went great, one of the best. Then the 'Them' gang hung out for a while and said our goodbyes for now and stuff. That was sad 'cos it was such a great experience, but hopefully we'll be reunited to do the show again soon. I walked back to where I was staying. A lot of people were celebrating Halloween on Saturday night, so the streets were packed with high-spirited people in costumes, and that was really nice. On Sunday, I worked a bit, and I said bye to some people via the phone, and I got to hang out a bit with Nb, 'cos he was free and around. I also found out that afternoon about the whole Plexus/Gabe thing, and that was a disbelief- and shock-creating experience, and it happened right before I taxied to the airport, so that news discolored my flight home and stuff. The double plane ride was endless, and I didn't sleep at all. I watched two films: 'Salt', which was diverting, and 'Inception' for a second time to see if it was better than I remembered, but it seemed even more empty and weak if anything. I finally stumbled into my room here in Paris in the late morning, napped, woke up, felt incredibly sleepy, ate, reunited with Yury, tried to stay awake, and finally succumbed to sleep. Now I'm awake but quite jet lagged, and that lag is very predictable, I guess. How was Tuesday? ** Brendan, Very happy for you on the Giants front, man. That was some nice news. ** Okay, I hope you find a place in your head for the Sarah Kane post, and I will check back in with you tomorrow to see what's what on every front. See you then.
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