AN EXPLORATION OF SARAH KANE’S PLAYS THROUGH A FOURTH-WAVE

FEMINIST LENS

Thesis submitted in partial requirements for the degree

MASTER OF ARTS IN THEATRE STUDIES

at the

UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM

July 2018

Supervisor: Sruti Bala

Second reader: Laurens de Vos

1

Table of Contents

Introduction: Sarah Kane and Her Works In Context ...... 2

Kane and (Post-)Feminism ...... 7

Blasted...... 15

Cleansed ...... 30

Phaedra’s Love...... 44

Conclusion ...... 59

Bibliography ...... 61

Introduction: Sarah Kane and Her Works In Context

“There isn’t anything you can’t represent on stage. If you are saying that you can’t represent something, you are saying you can’t talk about it, you are denying its existence. My

2 responsibility is to the truth, however difficult that truth happens to be.” – Sarah Kane in ‘A very angry young woman’1

Sarah Kane was born in 1971 and grew up in Kelvedon Hatch, a small village in Essex,

England. She studied theatre at Bristol University and graduated with First Class Honours in

1992. From there, she decided to do a Masters in Playwriting at Birmingham University but she dropped out before completion. It was here whilst aged 23 that she began her first draft of

Blasted, her first play, and after its first performance, she secured her agent, Mel Kenyon.

Because of her young age, she had a large student following.

While at university, her early works included a piece called ‘Comic Monologue,’ which was about a woman who was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. Ken Urban comments that “this man, like many of Kane’s male characters, was both violent and kind to his victim.”2 Here an early pattern of Kane’s writing style can be detected, with her often writing characters who confuse the binary between victim and perpetrator. She also wrote ‘What She Said’, based on the title of a The Smiths song, which is about a bisexual woman torn between two lovers, and

‘Starved’, a monologue about a woman suffering from bulimia. All three of these monologues were presented at an event called ‘Sick’ at New End Theatre, Hampstead.

Kane was influenced by many playwrights and other dramatical figureheads, such as Antonin

Artaud and Samuel Beckett. Kane’s only and final body of work consisted of five stage plays

(Blasted, Cleansed, Phaedra’s Love, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis) and one film script (Skin), all of which can be found compiled in Sarah Kane: Complete Plays. All of these texts were written over less than a four-year period. Despite her small repertoire before her untimely death in 1999, her agent insisted that the works were complete.

1 Clare Bayley, “A Very Angry Young Woman,” The Independent, January 23, 1995. 2 Ken Urban, “Sarah Kane,” in Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights, 2011. 305. 3

In-Yer-Face Theatre

Sarah Kane is one of the most stand-out playwrights often included in the category of in-yer- face theatre, along with Mark Ravenhill (Shopping and Fucking) and Jez Butterworth (Mojo).

She is also one of few, if the only, females renowned in this style of theatre. To understand in-yer-face theatre and Kane’s place within it, we must first draw upon its definition. Also referred to as ‘New Brutalism’, it “is marked by the rejection of the norms of the contemporary British stage in terms of language and form while embracing explicit sexual and violent content.”3 Elaine Aston discusses Aleks Sierz’s breakdown of in-yer-face theatre and concludes it as:

“an intense, confrontational, emotional roller-coaster ride of extreme experiences; as an aesthetic experience that favors more visceral, immediate ways of ‘waking up the audience,’ rather than rehearsing a politically explicit wake-up call for less oppressive, more democratically organized futures.”4

In-yer-face theatre is defined by its outlandish nature, often with graphic depictions, and its playwrights and texts hailing from the United Kingdom during the 1990s. It occurred alongside the reign of ‘Cool Britannia’, which Ken Urban refers to as “when Tony Blair’s

New Labour Party rebranded London as the global capital of coolness, and when the British advertising industry heralded the return of Swinging London.”5 Despite sounding positive, the 1990s was known as a time of depression for masses of people who were not profiting

3 Hallie Rebecca Marshall, “Saxon Violence and Social Decay in Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love and Tony Harrison’s Prometheus,” Helios 38, no. 2 (2011): 165–79. 4 Elaine Aston, “Feeling the Loss of Feminism: Sarah Kane’s Blasted and an Experiential Genealogy of Contemporary Women’s Playwriting,” Theatre Journal 62, no. 4 (2010): 575–91. 5 Ken Urban, Rebecca D’Monte, and Graham Saunders, “Cruel Britannia,” in Cool Britannia? British Political Drama in the 1990s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 39. 4 from the capitalistic push by its reigning politicians. A name coined by Urban himself, ‘Cruel

Britannia’ refers to “a youth-based counter-politics to the cynicism and opportunism of Cool

Britannia.”6 Urban suggests that Kane was part of this generation who used cruelty in her writing to raise political awareness and create commentary on the current affairs of her country at the time. He says that she “use[s] cruelty as a means of both reflecting and challenging the despair of contemporary urban life, shaped by global capitalism and cultural uniformity.”7 This worked out favourably, bringing Kane her literary success, albeit mostly after her death. But after all, “the defining feature of 1990s drama is its cruelty.”8

Sierz explains that in-yer face theatre “describes not just the content of a play but the relationship between the writer and the public, or (more accurately) the relationship between the stage and the audience.”9 The ‘in-yer-face’ refers to the content and onstage action interacting with its audience. Its theatre is unabashed, often violent or sexual. Sierz goes on to explain further the name of ‘in-yer-face’. He states it’s strongly suggestive of “what is particular about the experience of watching extreme theatre – the feeling that your personal space is threatened. It gives a sense of that violation of intimacy that some forms of extreme drama produce in the audience.”10 Whilst watching in-yer-face theatre, the aim of the playwrights or directors may be to induce visceral reactions from its audience members.

Some characteristics that may be considered integral for a piece of theatre to be called ‘in- yer-face’ include the use of “a stage language that emphasizes rawness, intensity and swearing, stage images that show acute pain or comfortless vulnerability”11 and so forth. Or simply put: “When theatre makes you squirm inside with its depiction of emotionally fraught

6 Ibid, 39. 7 Ibid, 39. 8 Ibid, 43. 9 Aleks Sierz, Rebecca D’Monte, and Graham Saunders, “The Politics of In-Yer-Face Theatre,” in Cool Britannia? British Political Drama in the 1990s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). 10 Ibid, 24-25. 11 Ibid, 30. 5 relationships and extremes states of mind, then its justifiably named ‘in-yer-face’.”12 For these reasons, it is clear to see how Sarah Kane’s work is included in this category.

Kane and I

Although Sarah Kane’s work was written in the 1990’s, her legacy lives on posthumously. I was unfortunately too young to have been able to experience any of the premieres, though I would have particularly enjoyed seeing her directorial take on her own text of Phaedra’s

Love. My interest in Sarah Kane’s work began in 2011 when I was undergoing my GCSE’s in

Wales. I was studying GCSE Drama and it was one of my favourite subjects; little did I know it would become what I would study later in life. I had already received an A* in the devised piece and was determined to receive the same grade in the scripted piece. My teacher, Miss.

Thomas, saw potential in myself and two similarly-minded fellow students and was enthralled when we expressed the desire for challenging material. She gave us 4.48 Psychosis to read through and warned us of its disturbing content. Within the first two pages, I was in awe. I’d be trapped in the idea that all plays must be written as dialogue, with set characters and stage directions provided. Kane opened up a new world of possibilities for me. As a performer, I was excited by all the different ways I could perform it – as a single monologue, split up into various characters or in more abstract ways, such as voices heard through audio recordings. Not only did the form excite me, but so did the content. As a teenage girl going through personal difficulties, Kane’s stories of painful depression resonated with me. Sadly, my own issues were to get worse before they got better, but I took note of the sub-textual warning of things to come. Luckily, I was able to get along better with medication than Kane was, and it has helped me tremendously. I still read 4.48 Psychosis with a strange sense of

12 Ibid, 30. 6 nostalgia and relatability, of times that were not so bright. But more importantly, I see it as the first play that truly lit a fire within me, making me eager to perform, write and direct. The next play of Kane’s I encountered was Blasted, in the second year of my undergraduate degree at Aberystwyth University. The play was featured in a module called ‘Contemporary

British and Irish Drama’ and I chose it partially due to my interest in Sarah Kane’s work. I read it, studied it and wrote notes about it, finding that the intrigue in how Kane’s mind worked had only continued to deepen. But now, I was more concerned with the feminist subtext contained within her work and this is something I began to consider. This has undoubtedly developed into a true curiosity of mine and led to the choice of topic for this thesis, which I hope explores most of what I have been contemplating.

Kane and (Post-)Feminism

Many critics have taken to reviewing Kane’s work through a feminist lens, notwithstanding the fact that Kane did not explicitly use the label of feminist for herself. She stated that she doesn’t “see the world being divided up into men and women.”13 She also rejects the label of

‘woman writer’ and states that she avoids an “over-emphasis on sexual politics” as she believes they are a “diversion from our problem [as] class, race, and gender divisions are symptomatic of societies based on violence or the threat of violence, not the cause.”14 These beliefs are made particularly explicit in her play Blasted. I would argue that Kane had a reluctance to be confined to the category of feminist playwrights but was also arguably ignorant of the true definition of ‘feminism’. By that, I mean a misunderstanding of the feminist movement due to the cloud of misinformation and conspiracy that surrounds it.

13 Sarah Kane cit. in Heidi Stephenson and Natasha Langridge, Rage & Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting (Methuen, 1997). 14 Kane cit in. Ibid, 134. 7

However, her position can still be considered a specific feminist position. To begin with, I aim to clarify any misconceptions about contemporary feminism, specifically fourth-wave feminism. I will do this by giving a brief overview of the main movements of feminism since its origin, also known as ‘waves’. Then I will engage a reading of Kane’s work in relation to the issues and debates of what is now sometimes come to be known as fourth-wave feminism.

My research question specifically is interested in how the written works of Sarah Kane can be analysed through the use of a fourth-wave feminist framework.

The Waves of Feminism

In terms of feminism, I will be looking at the UK specifically as this is where Sarah Kane is from. The history of feminism is often described in terms of ‘waves’, referring to historical highlights or culminating points.15 Each wave was a reaction to the worldly goings-on at the time and developed from the ideas and concerns of the waves preceding it.

There are some limitations to use of ‘wave’ as a metaphor. Emily Hoeflinger warns that the

“wave rhetoric evokes notions of generational or familial feminist tensions, and the exclusion or ignorance of certain feminist groups within feminism’s historical framework.”16 Linda

Nicholson goes further, saying that referring to ‘waves’ is no longer “useful” for the feminist movement.17 She states that using the metaphor of waves groups together and therefore reduces many simultaneous movements within feminism, and it suggests that all of them are united on issues.

15 Nancy A. Hewitt, “Feminist Frequencies: Regenerating the Wave Metaphor,” Feminist Studies 38, no. 3 (2012): 658–80. 16 Emily Hoeflinger, “Talking Waves: Structures of Feminist Moments and the Potential of a Wave Economy,” Third Space 8, no. 1 (2008). 17 Linda Nicholson, “Feminism in" Waves": Useful Metaphor or Not?,” New Politics 12, no. 4 (2010): 24. 8

Starting with the first-wave of suffragettes, their focus was to gain the right for women to vote. They aimed for women to gain political power, also in receiving rights to property.

With the second-wave, the focus was on a movement for sexual liberation for women. Nicola

Rivers states in her essay Postfeminism(s) and Announcing the Arrival of Fourth-Wave

Feminism that “the second wave of feminism is associated with taking place approximately between the 1960s and 1990s.”18 Many second-wave feminists were also involved in other political movements, for example the civil rights movement which occurred in the US in reaction to the treatment of its black citizens. In the 1990s, the ‘third wave’ of feminism was concerned with queer theory and furthering the idea that sex and gender exist outside of a binary. The third-wave therefore coincided with Kane’s period of writing her five plays featured in Complete Plays. This wave continued the work of its predecessors, aiming to stop violence against women and so on.

However, Elaine Aston argues that feminism became stale and no longer appealed to young women. She put this down to several reasons including: “the demise of feminism as a political movement; feminism’s self-reflexive critiques of its failure to recognize difference in the category of ‘women’; the sociocultural backlash against feminism; and widely circulating ideas of postfeminism that unhelpfully foster an erroneous belief that feminism is redundant and over.”19 She believed that in order for feminism to not die along with the generation, something needed to change in order to keep it relevant.

Fourth-Wave Feminism

18 Nicola Rivers, “Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave: Turning Tides,” Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave: Turning Tides, 2017, 1–162, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59812-3: 22. 19 Elaine Aston, “Feeling the Loss of Feminism: Sarah Kane's Blasted and an Experiential Genealogy of Contemporary Women’s Playwriting,” Theatre Journal 62, no. 4 (2010): 577. 9

The fourth-wave, which started in the 2000’s, brought feminism into the 21st century.20

Rivers notes that whilst some propose fourth-wave feminism began as late as 2014, “Jennifer

Baumgardner was writing about the fourth wave of feminism in 201121 and actually dates its arrival as early as 2008.”22 Ann Kaplan suggests that the fourth-wave could have been propelled into action following 9/11, which created new concerns surrounding gender, race and class.23 For example, it brought to light issues of capitalism and neo-liberalism, which are often depicted as enemies of feminism along with the patriarchy. In her interview with renowned fourth-wave feminist, Decca Aitkenhead argues that fourth-wave feminism is

“already being discussed as a rejection of the third and the notion of feminism as being reassuringly in the past or even hindering women today.”24 In this way, fourth-wave feminism was born out of a requirement to renew feminism to appeal to and fulfil the needs of the new generation. It aims to be inclusive of all races, classes, genders and sexualities.

Fourth-wave feminism can be defined by its involvement with social media, which helps young women who are privileged enough to have access to the internet relate to and engage with issues. For example, the use of ‘hashtag activism’ like #metoo, which helped demonstrate the scope of the problem of sexual harassment.25 With many celebrities coming forward with their stories, over 500,000 tweets containing the hashtag have been recorded, confirming and bringing to the social media sphere what has been widely recognised in feminist scholarship for decades as a massive problem. Laura Bates is the creator of the

20 Ealasaid Munro, “Feminism: A Fourth Wave?,” Political Insight 4, no. 2 (2013): 22–25, doi:10.1111/2041- 9066.12021. 21 Jennifer Baumgardner, F’em! Goo Goo Gaga and Some Thoughts on Balls (London: Seal Press, 2011). 22 Rivers, “Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave: Turning Tides.”: 22. 23 E Ann Kaplan, “Feminist Futures: Trauma, the Post-9/11 World and a Fourth Feminism?,” Journal of International Women’s Studies 4, no. 2 (2003): 46–59, http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol4/iss2/5. 24 Decca Aitkenhead, “Laura Bates Interview: ‘Two Years Ago, I Didn’t Know What Feminism Was’” (The Guardian, 2014), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/laura-bates-interview-everyday-sexism. 25 Nadia Khomami, “#MeToo: How a Hashtag Became a Rallying Cry against Sexual Harassment,” The Guardian, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/20/women-worldwide-use-hashtag-metoo-against- sexual-harassment. 10

Everyday Sexism Project, which began as a means of recording instances of ‘everyday sexism’ – or the experiences of women on a day-to-day basis. In her interview with

Aitkenhead, she states: “’two years ago, I didn’t know what feminism meant.’”26 This is an important distinction from self-proclaimed feminists who identify with earlier waves, who may have more of an academic knowledge and understanding of the movement. Interestingly,

Rivers notes that the Everyday Sexism Project “could be seen as a return to the kind of collective identity politics that characterized much of the second wave.”27 So in a way, the fourth-wave has taken elements of the previous waves of feminism and aimed to make it relevant to today’s society. For example, it still concerns itself with the queer theories of third-wave feminism and takes the sexual liberation movement of the second-wave into new heights with ‘sex-positivity’, or a rejection of ‘slut-shaming’.

Consent has been a massive concern of fourth-wave feminism, with the concept being filled with grey areas; silence, being drunk and being coerced are still considered by some to be consent to a sexual activity. The US Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) found that “1 out of every 6 American women has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape within her lifetime” 28 and yet when taken to court “out of every 1000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free.”29 Then those few who do serve jailtime may only have short sentences, such as Brock Turner, a man who raped an unconscious woman. He only served three months in custody. Even so, prison terms can not be equated with true long-term justice. Questions like

‘what were you wearing?’ following an assault bring the blame onto the victim instead of the perpetrator. This is referred to as ‘victim-blaming’. Similarly, the controversial term ‘slut-

26 Aitkenhead, “Laura Bates Interview: ‘Two Years Ago, I Didn’t Know What Feminism Was.’” 27 Rivers, “Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave: Turning Tides.”: 24. 28 RAINN.org, “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics,” RAINN, 2015, https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal- justice-system. 29 RAINN.org, “Victims Of Sexual Violence: Statistics,” RAINN, 2015, https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims- sexual-violence. 11 shaming’ can be used when discussing the judgement of women’s behaviour that is deemed promiscuous and therefore uncouth.

Fourth-wave feminism, like its previous waves, is also concerned with the wage gap30 as well as the lack of representation of women and people of colour in careers, such as in the science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM) fields. These concerns were also present in the earlier waves and presents an ongoing common argument that they all share. A survey of the US workforce found that while “women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015”, they

“held only 24 percent of STEM jobs.”31 Furthermore, reproductive rights are still being argued – in Ireland, many women make the journey across to the UK to have abortions. Many people picket outside abortion clinics, shaming the women who visit them with grotesque and often inaccurate pictures of ‘aborted fetuses’ and religious manipulative language. In many

US states, women are required to receive counselling or an ultrasound prior to being permitted an abortion, in "a veiled attempt to personify the fetus and dissuade a woman from obtaining an abortion."32

Fourth-wave feminism has also taken on a new realm of public interest as many celebrities are self-proclaimed feminists, including popular singers Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. This kind of attention in the media is unique to the wave, providing feminism with a popularity in the

Western world that it has never experienced as a political movement. However, there is a limitation to viewing this in a positive light as the celebrity attention can be defined as an

“individualized, neoliberal, and capitalist vision of ‘success.’”33 This means that whilst attention from popular celebrities may appear positive, the privileges they hold can limit their

30 Lora Jones, “What Is the Gender Pay Gap?,” BBC, 2018, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42918951. 31 Ryan Noonan and Office of the Chief Economist, “Women in STEM: 2017 Update,” 2017, https://www.esa.gov/reports/women-stem-2017-update. 32 Meghan Keneally, “Where US Abortion Laws Stand 45 Years after Roe v. Wade,” ABC, 2018, http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-abortion-laws-stand-45-years-roe-wade/story?id=52462955. 33 Rivers, “Postfeminism(s) and the Arrival of the Fourth Wave: Turning Tides.”: 25. 12 insight into feminist issues. Furthermore, the industry in which they are part of is stepped in sexism; Rivers argues that “access to this success in the male dominated environment of the music industry is still dependent on presenting a youthful and highly sexualized image of femininity.”34 Therefore, it can be argued that these celebrities are not truly feminist without speaking out against the issues in the environment they find themselves in.

Post-Feminism

As defined by Rivers, postfeminism “shifted the responsibility for women’s success from the collective to the individual … this in turn allowed for the easy slippage between postfeminism as a time after feminism, and postfeminism as a backlash against the movement.”35 This matches Kane’s disapproval of the term ‘woman writer’, as she preferred to focus on her own individual merits and avoid being grouped together with other female writers.

Ann Brooks explores the concept of postfeminism in her book Postfeminisms: Feminism,

Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms. She argues that “the term is now understood as a useful conceptual frame of reference encompassing the intersection of feminism with a number of other anti-foundationalist movements including postmodernism, post-structuralism and post- colonialism.”36 I believe that post-feminism extends further than a conceptual “anti- foundationalist movement” since people have co-opted the term to describe a feeling that feminism is no longer applicable to their lives. Post-feminists believe that this goal has been achieved and therefore feminism is now redundant. Kane stated in an interview: “I have no

34 Ibid: 25. 35 Ibid: 20. 36 Ann Brooks, Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (London: Routledge, 1997): 1. 13 responsibility as a woman writer because I don’t believe there’s such a thing.”37 I would argue that although Kane rejected the notion of being seen as a representative of women, this was likely due to her aversion to being categorized as that and only that. Elaine Aston noted that Kane “did not wish to be seen as a representative of a ‘biological or social group’.”38 She wanted her work to be viewed by all with an open mind, not with the bias that often comes when reading a play you know to be feminist in nature and purpose. “Kane is representative of the 1990s ‘woman’ playwright who is genealogically connected to feminist theatre histories, but is generationally divorced from an “old” style of feminist attachment.”39

I believe there is not enough evidence to conclude that Kane could be considered a post- feminist. She is no longer alive to confirm or deny such a label and we cannot judge from the few comments she made about feminism. In spite of this, I think it is definitely possible to consider Kane’s work through a feminist perspective, regardless of her intentions or beliefs.

Kane and Feminism

I argue that Kane’s work can be analysed through a fourth-wave feminist critical lens as the issues her work addresses are still wholly relevant, if not more so than the time of their writing. I believe this is important due to the renewed interest in feminism and the everyday sexisms that still occur. Though the media may play a role in highlighting the frequency of these acts, I feel these issues are becoming more of a problem than ever. In particular, Kane addresses the issues of violence (specifically perpetuated by men, often towards women),

37 Sarah Kane cit. in Heidi Stephenson and Natasha Langridge, Rage & Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting (Methuen, 1997): 134. 38 Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt, “A Century in View: From Suffrage to the 1990s,” in The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 1–20. 39 Aston, “Feeling the Loss of Feminism: Sarah Kane’s Blasted and an Experiential Genealogy of Contemporary Women’s Playwriting.”: 580. 14 mental health and sexuality. To understand how these issues are explored, I will be using fourth-wave feminist theorists to situate Kane’s work. The methodology I will be using is a text analysis of Sarah Kane’s plays, alongside the use of secondary sources such as journal articles or books on Kane’s work. I will also be examining staged performances to support my arguments and analyse interpretations of Kane’s works in terms of performativity. This is important as without the addition of live performance, we are at risk of attempting to judge the playwright’s intentions through the text, which is simply not possible. Through performance, we can, however, bring to life the text which may in turn reveal subtexts included with or without the playwright’s knowledge. Furthermore, we can apply our own directorial influence onto the play in order to shape the text in whatever way we like.

Blasted

It was Sarah Kane’s ultimate belief that society has a “human need for violence.”40 She felt that violence was an integral part of society, making it “the most urgent thing we need to confront.”41 This line of thought shaped her works to feature the theme of violence as well exploring the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator. She rejected following the usual route of writing gender as dictating the roles of characters in acts of violence. Instead, she stated: “I don’t think of the world as being divided up into men and women, victims and perpetrators.”42 Therefore, her play Blasted plays around with the confused perceptions between the categories, bringing into question the role of men as both perpetrators and victims. In an interview about the play and its process, she said: “I tried to draw on lots of

40 Sarah Kane cit. in Graham Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) 27. 41 Sarah Kane cit. in Graham Saunders, About Kane: The Playwright and The Work (London: Faber & Faber, 2009) 101. 42 Sarah Kane cit. in Heidi Stephenson and Natasha Langridge, Rage & Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting (Methuen, 1997), 113. 15 different theatrical traditions. War is confused and illogical, therefore it is wrong to use a form that is predictable. Acts of violence simply happen in life, they don’t have a dramatic build-up, and they are horrible. That’s how it is in the play.”43 In Blasted, the acts of rape and violence occur matter-of-factly, presenting them as things that “simply happen” in both the context of the domestic and more broadly, international sphere.

Blasted

Blasted is one of five written plays by Sarah Kane, first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court

Theatre. It features Cate, a young emotionally vulnerable woman, and her previous partner

Ian, an older tabloid journalist who is sexist and racist. The pair meet up in a hotel room, seemingly based in Leeds, and the play begins with dialogue between them. Ian openly brags about his misogyny and racism then attempts to seduce Cate but is unsuccessful. Cate suffers from fits where she loses conscious thought, instead erupting into unstoppable laughter. Ian takes advantage of these moments throughout the play and sexually assaults her while she is incapacitated. Then the realism of the play is shattered as a soldier arrives at the door and the set is literally ‘blasted’ into pieces. Cate escapes through the window of the bathroom as now vulnerable Ian comes face-to-face with the intimidating Soldier, who then proceeds to anally rape him. The Soldier talks about the atrocities of war he has both watched and participated in, including the rape and murder of his girlfriend Col, and then commits suicide. Ian is left alone and blind, after having his eyeballs sucked out by the Soldier during the sexual assault.

Cate returns, with a baby in hand, and describes the war that is now ongoing outside of the room. The baby dies and she buries it, before leaving again. Ian is alone again and demonstrates his pathetic vulnerability by masturbating and crying. At one point, the stage

43 Kane in Clare Bayley, “A Very Angry Young Woman,” The Independent, January 23, 1995. 16 directions states that he dies but he continues to talk, seemingly unable to reach death:

“Shit.”44 (60) Finally, Cate returns with food and with blood on her crotch, making it clear that she experienced sexual violence or has exchanged sex for sustenance. She feeds Ian the food by hand and he replies with a simple, yet poignant “Thank you.” (61)

Blasted was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre, London and was met with harsh criticism due to its graphic nature. The newspaper critic, Jack Tinker, believed the play to be based solely on shock-value and described it as a “disgusting feast of filth”45. Kane uses graphic yet often impossible stage directions and imagery to “redefine the representation of staged violence.”46 For example, the seemingly romantic props such as a bouquet of flowers and a large hotel bed, become a signifier for self-destruction and violence. In the case of the bouquet, the flowers are ‘ripped apart’, symbolic of the sexual assault that takes place and makes reference to the phrase ‘deflowering’ to mean the taking of a woman’s virginity. The bed is where the assault takes place, and even the mini-bar in the hotel room, which is full of alcohol Ian helps himself to thus becoming a symbol of his chronic alcoholism and health problems. His declining health become more and more apparent throughout with his continuous coughing. The associations of the images she creates are what Christopher

Wixson describes as “the unthinkable”, with depictions of “hideous acts of cruelty and human degradation not meant to be shown on a stage.”47 But these images are not without intention simply for the sake of ‘shock value’, as her critics originally argued. Instead, her writing, according to Elaine Aston, “aims to make us see and to feel the effects of violence not as a world outside of ourselves, othered and neutralised, but as inside our lives, value systems,

44 Sarah Kane, “Blasted,” in Complete Plays (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 1995), 1–61. 45 Bayley, “A Very Angry Young Woman.” 46 Jack Tinker, “This Disgusting Feast of Filth,” Daily Mail, 1995. 47 Christopher Wixson, “‘In Better Places’: Space, Identity, and Alienation in Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted,’” Comparative Drama 39, no. 1 (2005): 75–91, doi:10.1353/cdr.2005.0003. 17 choices and behaviours.”48 Where some plays aim to entertain and in turn reassure its audience, Blasted does not. As Aston goes on, “consuming violence in the theatrical event does not afford the reassurance and the comfort that is craved to make us feel safe and certain, but discomforts and threatens.”49 However, this is necessary to affect an audience deeply enough to create political and personal change, which I believe Kane aims to do.

Instead of being concerned directly with gender issues, she believed that they are

“symptomatic of societies based on violence or the threat of violence.”50 She admitted her intentions with Blasted were to compare the domestic rape with the sexual violence that occurs in war-ravaged areas. This is an inherently feminist viewpoint. She does this through her use of the male characters Ian and the Soldier as representatives of masculinity and violence on different scales, local and global. This also brings into question the intersections of race, class and gender. Ian’s language suggests he is part of the working-class yet demonstrates a right-wing approach wherein he feels extremely patriotic to the point of racism. The Soldier can be said to represent those corrupted by war, forced to become killers and often killers of marginalised groups. “Her debut play, Blasted, figures the fault line between a ‘personal as political feminist past’ and a ‘personal without a feminist political present/future.’”51 While Kane may have been influenced by feminist playwrights that came before her, she did not actively seek to create written works which represent a feminist or political viewpoint. Despite that, her work does concern itself with presentations of gender, and in particular, masculinity. Her work speaks from a strong feminist viewpoint and imagines characters who reflect a patriarchal society. Stephenson and Langridge argue that

Blasted “undoes nostalgic attachments to an old style of feminism and detaches from

48 Elaine Aston, “Reviewing the Fabric of Blasted,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 13–27. 49 Ibid, 19. 50 Stephenson and Langridge, Rage & Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting: 135. 51 Ibid, 580. 18 postfeminism’s concealment of the enduring power of a masculinist order, in the interests of feminism’s renewal.”52 Her representation of Ian and the soldier are a clear criticism of masculinity; she highlights the toxicity of masculinity and subverts it with the ‘blast’.

Staging

Richard Wilson directed Blasted during the ‘Sarah Kane season’ at Sheffield theatres in 2015

– 20 years after its premiere at the Royal Court. Nina Kane describes the set as naturalistic,

“which evoked the presence of the ‘paper-thin wall’.”53 The set design was created by James

Cotterill and it seems apparent that whilst he aimed to keep the set true to Kane’s directions, he also incorporated creative possibilities. Nina Kane describes that there were “two offstage areas within the set”54 which were hidden by Perspex sheets. “The first was revealed as a hotel corridor when the door opened, the suggestion of other rooms constructed within it in a cul-de-sac of closed doors; and a second area – the bathroom – whose entrance was technically ‘off-stage’ but whose internal dimensions were inferred as running alongside the wall of the visible stage area.”55 The set design successfully recreated Kane’s idea of an expensive hotel room, but also allowed for theatrical possibilities for the actors.

One notable change that Wilson made to the text of Blasted when directing it, was his omission of the line ‘it’s like that when I touch myself’. This line is said by Cate and its removal seems questionable. Nina Kane states, “it was problematic in denying the adult character of Cate her sexual agency.”56 I whole-heartedly agree and feel there is something to

52 Ibid, 584. 53 Nina Kane, “Breath and Light: New Directions in the Staging of Sarah Kane,” Litro, 2015, https://www.litro.co.uk/2015/07/breath-and-light-new-directions-in-the-staging-of-sarah-kane/. 54 Ibid. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. 19 be said about the choice to remove this line. Female masturbation is often considered taboo; something not to be talked about aloud for worry of shame. To remove Cate’s acknowledgement of her own sexuality is to remove her agency. This diminishes her character, leaving her to remain as a representation of vulnerability, not allowing her to develop any strength as a woman. It’s unfortunate that this line was removed in Wilson’s adaptation and it shines a light particularly on the possibility that a male director would retract a female character’s ownership of her sexuality.

The Domestic and the International

Whilst Kane was attempting to write a play, of which the original material morphed into the first act of Blasted, she turned on the TV only to learn about the atrocities occurring as the time in Eastern Europe. Kane stated that upon watching the news and seeing the suffering that was happening at the time in Bosnia, she was deeply moved. Thus, she was inspired to create a comparison between domestic sexual assault committed between two ex-lovers and rape being used as a tool in war. This led to the creation of the second act wherein the set is

‘blasted’ apart with a mortar bomb. Though she steers away from identifying the source of conflict depicted in the play, she confirmed in numerous interviews that she was inspired by the images of the Bosnian war that she was exposed to. There are no specific locations or people identified; the play “does not seek to represent incidents, but reference them.”57 While she agrees the Bosnian war influenced her writing, she doesn’t want to create an explicit representation of the politics of the incident but rather create a commentary of war and violence as a whole. In fact, the bomb that divides the more naturalistic first act from the surreal, expressionistic second act was a direct result of her decision to include the material of

57 Aston, “Reviewing the Fabric of Blasted.” 20 war in the play. The bomb exploding the set could very well change the location to one of a war-zone, but it could also be argued that the place remains the same and instead, the war comes to Leeds. The vague uncertainty of the location means that the events of the play can be taken into consideration under less specific terms and applied to a variety of general situations. Furthermore, a hotel room is a familiar place, but it is not a home. It is, instead, an

“environment which a species of rape familiar in domestic environments can take place.”58

This means the so-called ‘domestic’ rape is still applicable to our understanding, yet dramatically it withholds a sense of belonging for the characters for the play. A hotel room can seem “a space of profound alienation”59 which serves to isolate both Cate and Ian, making their vulnerabilities clearer to one another as well as the audience. Additionally, a hotel room is “instantly recognisable” to an audience which in turn “places the play well within the familiar world of social realism.”60 As Ehren Fordyce states, “Kane creates equivalence between Cate’s sexual assault and the rape camps of Yugoslavia by exploding the hotel room and the battlefield into each other.”61 Kane uses Blasted to argue that though they differ in severity, they come from the same place – the cultural norm of violence. She states: “The logical conclusion of the attitude that produces an isolated rape in England is the rape camps in Bosnia and the logical conclusion to the way society expects men to behave is war.”62 Here she explains there is a clear connection between the patriarchal norms and pressures, which affect both men and women, and violent acts. Kaplan’s article about the reaction to 9/11 points out the complications of race and gender, which intersect and are

58 Ken Urban, “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 23, no. 3 (2001): 36–46., 230. 59 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.” 60 Christopher Wixson, “‘In Better Places’: Space, Identity, and Alienation in Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted,’” Comparative Drama 39, no. 1 (2005): 75–91, doi:10.1353/cdr.2005.0003. 61 Ehren Fordyce, “The Voice of Kane,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 103–14. 62 Kane in Ehren Fordyce, “The Voice of Kane,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 103–14., 45. 21 therefore both of concern to fourth-wave feminists. The acknowledgement of the current

‘Islam’ versus ‘West’ issue brings forth questions about how one’s geography could affect the type of behaviours we engage in. Many conservatives in the western world believe that

Islam is an inherently violent religion and its aim is to conquer the world. In saying this, they completely disengage with the reality that America went to the Middle East to fight violence with violence Furthermore, she discusses the problem with believing that bombing other countries could ‘liberate’ its people, notably its women. Although in the 1990’s, when

Blasted was written, the world was still pre-9/11 and ‘terror’ attacks likely had different meaning. However, by bringing issues like these to the forefront, it seems Kane would be proposing the same type of criticism of Western society and its politics. This still holds significance today.

Bodies and Land as Commodities

Blasted is a play which I believe is more relevant than ever due to the rise in power of the right-wing in politics. Ian acts as a representative for the conservative Englishman who takes pride in his nation, stating he “loves this land” (40).63 However his patriotism takes on a form of racism as he sees “foreign affairs” as a “threat to his space.”64 He says he “hate[s] this city” as “Wogs and Pakis taking over,” (4) referring to Leeds, the city the play is set in. This character is a clear critique on location-based politics, wherein people feel a certain allegiance and therefore place claim over a piece of land. This idea of property and ownership ties in with the treatment of women disturbingly well. As Wixson states: “Kane's play represents a sterile and self-destructive world that understands bodies only as space for territorial aggression and defense, what Ian describes as ‘soldiers screwing each other for a

63 Urban, “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane.” 64 Kane, “Blasted.” 81. 22 patch of land’ (48) Identity is staked out on bodies and spaces.”65 These bodies can and are often women. Women are treated in such a way that they are likened to property; they are commodities which are merely to be owned or passed on to buy and sell. In a patriarchal society, they lack agency and autonomy, and I believe Kane’s careful execution of writing about the politics of war, violence and sexual assault pass clear commentary on this fact. Ian is a representation of the right-wing politics and nationhood that still manifests in society today. Both land and bodies can and are fought over by men perpetuating the ‘masculine’ ideals of the patriarchy. This is clearly linked to the bodies of women becoming commodities, as though they too are merely objects to be conquered.

Violence Against Women

Cate’s character represents the (perceived) vulnerability of women, though she does defend herself against Ian by biting his penis when he forces it inside her mouth. She feels to blame; she “seems only too willing to assume that she is, to some degree, culpable in her own violation”66 Catherine Rees agrees that Cate is “complicit” in her own victimisation for remaining in the room following the rape and for retaliating with aggressive behaviour, despite this seeming to be an appropriate reaction considering the circumstances. Worse still, even the playwright blames the victim she has created. Kane says in an interview: “I think

Cate’s very fucking stupid. What’s she doing in that hotel room in the first place? Of course, she’s going to get raped, and it’s utterly tragic that this happens to her.”67 I would argue that this is a kind of victim-blaming, and though it is a fictional character, it can be incredibly dangerous and perpetuates many myths that surround consent. For example, the fact that Cate

65 Wixson, “‘In Better Places’: Space, Identity, and Alienation in Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted.’” 66 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.” 231. 67 Saunders, About Kane: The Playwright and The Work, 63-64. 23 and Ian have previously had a sexual relationship does not mean that she consents to further sexual relations this time, or any. Furthermore, Cate is a vulnerable person due to her seizures which cause her to black out. Ward adds that this “should have made her more cautious of her personal safety”68 but this still gives no reason for Ian to take advantage. Ian is also older than

Cate, furthering their unbalanced and arguably abusive dynamic. The abuse cycle is clear;

Cate feels uncomfortable, threatened and unsafe when around Ian, however she remains in a

“completely self-perpetuating circle of emotional and physical violence”69 due to feelings of self-blame and guilt. This is a sadly familiar story for many women in abusive relationships.

The pair represent a well-known and widely experienced dynamic between men and women in relationships, wherein the man exerts his power (physically, sexually and emotionally) over the woman in order to keep her within his control. Fourth-wave feminism places particular importance on the prevention of relationships based on an imbalance of power.

Kira Cochrane, an author who affiliates herself with fourth-wave feminism, writes about this in her book which aims to raise awareness about the issues the wave deals with.70 One of these issues is domestic violence and abuse towards women, specifically in the UK.

Masculinity

Written in 1977, Robin Morgan writes in Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a

Feminist that she believes that rape is the “perfected act of male sexuality in a patriarchal culture,” and the “ultimate metaphor for domination, violence, subjugation, and possession.”71 Through this second-wave feminist reading, we can understand that rape is not about a man attempting to fulfil sexual pleasure, but instead it is about dominating women

68 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.”, 231. 69 Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes, 46. 70 Kira Cochrane, All the Rebel Women: The Rise of the Fourth Wave of Feminism (Guardian Books, 2013). 71 Robin Morgan, Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist (New York: Random House, 1977). 24 through a violent act. Rape is just a means for gaining power and control over a person.

Keeping this in mind, we can compare Ian’s rape of Cate to the Soldier’s rape of Ian.

Interestingly, Cate’s rape occurs offstage, which may be a subversion of norm and reaction to the desensitisation of violence towards women. Since we as a society have become used to images of violence in popular media as well as on the news, Kane appears to be acknowledging this by refusing to depict her rape and instead leaving it implied when they wake up in bed together. This is disturbing in itself – the fact that violence towards women is so normalised in our media and everyday life that Kane thought it unnecessary to depict the scene in its entirety onstage and merely hinted towards it. Wixson proposes that Kane’s choice to omit the rape could be because “the act has been accommodated in the economy of male heterosexual desire.”72 The #metoo movement was created in reaction to this kind of event. Its title refers to the number of women who have experienced sexual assault at the hands of a man.

On the other hand, the Soldier’s rape of Ian occurs onstage which may be a deliberate subversion of the ‘expected’; a homosexual rape being perceived as uncommon or even as a joke by other men. This raises questions of what constitutes a ‘real’ rape, with ideas of sexual assault usually pertaining to a violent attack of a woman by a male stranger. However, this is typically not the case, as in reality most rapes occur by known males73 and of course, homosexual rape is no myth. Kane’s inclusion of Ian’s rape also serves to reverse the victim- perpetrator relationships. Further to Ian’s identity as a nationalist, it is also “shaped by an aggressive relation to others, an overstated masculinity and a desire for control exacerbated by his failing health and imminent physical demise. All these values are cast into question by

72 Wixson, “‘In Better Places’: Space, Identity, and Alienation in Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted.’”, 90. 73 RAINN, “Perpetrators of Sexual Violence: Statistics,” RAINN, 2015, https://www.rainn.org/statistics/perpetrators-sexual-violence. 25 the Soldier’s appearance on stage”.74 While Ian takes on the abusive, misogynistic, racist, alcoholic chauvinist throughout the first act, the Soldier’s entrance makes his masculinity look fragile in comparison. This “so-called ‘crisis of masculinity’ and the interplay of power between men and women dominate all [Kane’s] work.”75 Ian’s own masculine image is perpetuated by his abuse of alcohol and smoking leading to his declining health which he acknowledges in the play. This also serves to “complicat[e] his cruelty with reminders of his own vulnerability.”76

We witness Cate and Ian’s relationship follow the cycle of abuse with Cate’s actions of smelling his jacket and then ripping the arms off (25-26) creating a metaphor for her feelings towards him. Ian repeats “I love you” to Cate, despite engaging in behaviour that shows the opposite – calling her brother a ‘retard’ (17), telling her she looks like a ‘lesbos’ (19) and of course the physical violence towards her. He seems entirely unaware of her discomfort and after having sex with her till she bled, he is surprised to hear that she “didn’t want to do that”

(31). Alternatively, he simply doesn’t care. Either way, Cate’s feelings are deemed unimportant compared to Ian’s sexual pleasure. When she has a fit following a non- consensual kiss (“I don’t want to do this” (14)), Ian feels hard done by saying, “that wasn’t very fair … leaving me hanging.” (14-15) He refers to her as though she is property – “you’re more mine than his” (16) – when discussing Cate’s boyfriend, yet another reason she would not consent to sexual acts with Ian. However, it is the Soldier’s entrance that completely reverses all power exerted from Ian unto him, with the bomb’s explosion revealing his vulnerability. His first word is, “Mum?” (39) This demonstrates that despite his outwardly misogynistic outbursts, he is, in the end, vulnerable and craving the love and care of a

74 Stefani Brusberg-Kiermeier, “Cruelty, Violence, and Rituals in Sarah Kane’s Plays,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 80–87. 75 Ibid, 30. 76 Urban, “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane.”, 45. 26 woman, namely his mother. The Soldier talks about the atrocities of war he has experienced including the gang-rape of underage women. Ian is visibly disgusted by this (“charming”

(43)) yet he cannot make the connection between this and his own non-consensual sexual experiences with Cate, arguing that the number of people involved is important. Even in the face of a gun, Ian tries to maintain face and refuses sex from the Soldier, who finds it amusing that he would “rather be shot than fucked and shot” (49). The Soldier proceeds to rape him after sharing the story of his girlfriend’s untimely death. “The re-enacted violence turns Ian into an empathetic sufferer to experience the horror Col has gone through in the war and propels him to reflect the brutal physical and mental insults he has perpetrated on

Cate.”77 He has flipped from filling the role of the perpetrator to becoming the victim, thus encouraging him, albeit also through violence, to take into consideration the violent experiences that he has put Cate through. However, I would argue that Ian does not reflect on the assault and Cate’s emotional state, but instead he simply feels sorry for himself. It could be argued that Ian’s reliance on Cate for food at the end and his final words of thanks show his redemption arc, but I would disagree. Instead, to me this further demonstrates that women have to serve men and provide them emotional labour, even in times of strife. For all that Ian has done to her, he does not deserve a redemption, but it seems the cycle of abuse perpetuates itself as she finds herself once again back with him. On the other hand, Kane argues that the play and its ending demonstrate the “the breakdown of human nature itself.”78

The rapes of Ian and Cate have been staged primarily as written in the play. They are to appear realistic, which is what makes them as frightening as they are. As stated before, these rapes can be comparable to real-life examples and this makes them close to home. Therefore, some directors may choose to shy away from the graphic depictions, instead alluding to

77 C E N Wei and M A Teng, “Masculinity in Crisis : A Gender Study of Blasted by Sarah Kane,” Studies in Literature and Language 14, no. 4 (2017): 7–10, doi:10.3968/9222. 78 Saunders, About Kane: The Playwright and The Work, 61. 27 meanings. However, this diminishes Kane’s style of writing. She aimed to be upfront with the goings-on she wrote about, whether that be a sexual assault or a war crime. She wanted her audience to engage with the political and social contexts of the violence depicted. She did not shy away from grotesque imagery. Further to that, simply alluding to the violent acts does not highlight the feminist perspective. In order to understand how this violence occurs in the world, we must see them in their honest, brutal form. Viewing them in a graphic, full-frontal form onstage could be helpful, as it is then that we can begin to fight back.

Fighting Violence With Feminism

The women in Blasted are subjected to extreme violence at the hands of men; even at the end

Cate emerges with “blood seeping from between her legs” (60) suggesting she has been victim of rape yet again to get food to survive. Though, this also raises questions about the exchange of sex for money or goods, or sex work. There is the potential that Cate made the choice to do so herself, though the blood suggests otherwise. It is dangerous to assume that sex work is an inherently negative thing but, in this circumstance, it would appear Cate’s choices are limited – eat or die – and therefore she is not truly given a choice.

Throughout the play, we are exposed to both suggested and explicit images of rape, both in the faux-domestic setting and in a confused war-like setting. The acts are “violent, cruel, and ultimately rather too familiar. It is, of course, this which makes them also so unsettling.

Kane’s rapes are ordinary rapes; except that no rape is really ordinary.”79 She aims to present the rape of Cate in a nearly domestic setting to demonstrate that rape occurs in familiar settings, often by familiar people, making them all the more disturbing. In Rethinking Rape,

Ann Cahill states that rape is “a crime that epitomizes women’s oppressed status” and one of

79 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.” 28

“indisputable violence and loathing.”80 This confirms that a man raping a woman is not only an act of violence, but a means of power and control. Jacqueline Rose argues that feminism needs to recognise this kind of violence and its processes in order to fight against it. She states: “feminism today cannot not talk about such crimes, whether rape as a war crime, FGM

[female genital mutilation], or domestic abuse.”81 She goes on to explain that the best way to

“counter violence against women is to speak of, to stay and reckon with, the extraordinary, often painful, and mostly overlooked, range of what the human mind is capable of”, including rape.82 Kane provides us with the associative world of war and violence that we find familiar in our own society and Rose provides us with the tools to tackle it.

Following Elaine Aston, it can be claimed that “gender concerns are very much a concern of her plays, most particularly her representation of masculinities in crisis.”83 Ian and his abusive tactics are representative of the patriarchal structures in place and Cate is the vulnerable woman subjected to it (though that is not to say that all women are vulnerable or that women are always vulnerable). Kane’s Blasted shows a world which is unsettlingly close to that we live in now, despite its use of associative metaphors and ‘impossible’ occurrences.

Ian’s character is reflective of the type of conservative man who is misogynistic and racist, and very much close to reality. Although her writing took place in the 1990’s, these types of people still exist and if anything, their voices have become more amplified given Trump’s successful campaign to become the President of the United States. The world we currently live in is not too dissimilar from that of Blasted’s – war still takes place, within which crimes like rape take place. Further to that, domestic rapes still occur with men being the main

80 Ann Cahill, Rethinking Rape (New York: Cornell University Press, 2001). 81 Jacqueline Rose, “Feminism and The Abomination of Violence,” Cultural Critique 94, no. Fall 2016 (2016): 4– 25, doi:10.5749/culturalcritique.94.2016.0004. 82 Ibid, 6. 83 Aston, “Feeling the Loss of Feminism: Sarah Kane’s Blasted and an Experiential Genealogy of Contemporary Women’s Playwriting.” 29 perpetrators. There are problems with the pressures and expectations of the patriarchy, such as upholding masculinity. Men feel they cannot express emotion, often leading to built-up anger. Men also view women as objects, leading to the dismissal of their feelings, which is helpful when treating them poorly. All of these reasons and more prove that her work could contribute to a fourth-wave feminist viewpoint and inspire action in contemporary society.

Cleansed

Cleansed, first performed in 1998, is another violent play of Kane’s, although this time it can be said there is a more redemptive arc. In this play, the characters are tested to see how far they will go for love. Surprisingly, love appears to succeed, with all the couples sticking by one another through torture, in the form of bodily mutilations, sexual assaults and other means of violence. Following on from her rejection of naturalistic drama in Blasted, in this next play, she has “stripped away the mechanics of explanatory narrative and presented the audience with a series of poetic images and pared dialogue.”84

The play follows the storylines of several characters who are all under the control of Tinker, the overseer of torture. There is Graham and Grace, who are siblings but are incestuously involved with one another; Carl and Rod, a homosexual couple; Robin, a young vulnerable boy; and lastly an unnamed woman, simply known as ‘Woman’, who is an exotic dancer. As

Bicer points out, “scenes are not continuous, the play is not really joined, and there is no linear chronological order or a rational development.”85 The play begins with Tinker and

Graham “just inside the perimeter of a university”86 (107), the setting of the text. Tinker is

84 David Greig, “Introduction,” in Sarah Kane: Complete Plays (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2001), xi-xii. 85 Ahmet Gökhan Bicer, “Sarah Kane’s Postdramatic Strategies in Blasted, Cleansed and Crave,” The Journal of International Social Research 4, no. 17 (2001). 86 Sarah Kane, “Cleansed,” in Sarah Kane: Complete Plays, 1998, 105–51. 30 preparing heroin on a spoon and Graham insists he adds more until Tinker injects it into

Graham’s eye. He overdoses and dies. In the second scene, we are introduced to Rod and

Carl. They are in what seems to be a new relationship and they both attempt to determine their level of commitment. Rod is more cynical whilst Carl wants to wear Rod’s ring and insists he will always love him and never betray him. In the ‘White Room’, Tinker explains to Grace that her brother Graham has died of an overdose. She asks to see his clothes, but

Tinker says they have been given to someone else. Upon her insistence, he orders Robin, a young nineteen-year-old boy, to enter the room and give the clothes he’s wearing (Graham’s) to her. He strips naked and so does Grace, putting on her brother’s old clothes. She has a breakdown and cries. Tinker lifts her onto a bed and handcuffs her to it. Then he gives her a pill and states that she is not his responsibility before leaving the room. She asks Robin to write a letter to her parents telling them that she is staying there. Robin shares his suicidal thoughts with her but states that “nobody wants to die” (115) and “nobody kills themself here” (115), suggesting that this place is safe despite the events so far telling a different story.

In Scene 4, Tinker is in charge of some sort of invisible beating of Carl and he demands to know the name of his lover. Tinker’s pushes a pole up Carl’s anus until he admits he is romantically involved with Rod. When the pole is removed, Rod falls from a great height beside them. Tinker then cuts Carl’s tongue off, takes Rod’s ring from his finger and makes

Carl swallow it. Grace begins to hallucinate that Graham is still alive and it is revealed that they have an incestuous relationship as they kiss passionately when he ‘returns’. They make love and daffodils sprout through the floorboards. Graham picks one up, smells it and says

“lovely” (121) - a line which is repeated throughout the rest of the play. Tinker goes to the

Black Room. A flap, accessed with the use of tokens, reveals a woman dancing and Tinker watches her, masturbating. They then have a short conversation where he refers to himself as a doctor and offers her help, claiming that she “shouldn’t be here” as “it’s not right” (122).

31

He calls her by the name Grace and then the flap closes. Grace tries to teach Robin to write in the Round Room, the university library. Robin tells Grace that he is in love with her, but she rejects him then Tinker humiliates him by ripping up his attempts at writing. Carl and Rod are sat just outside of the university together and Carl attempts to communicate by writing in the mud. Tinker enters and removes Carl’s hands; Rod lays with him and comforts him.

Tinker returns to the Black Room where the woman is dancing. They speak briefly and she asks him to ‘save me’ (p.130) In the Red Room, Grace is being beaten by the same invisible forces as Carl was previously, however this time there are disembodied voices taunting her.

She is raped by one of the Voices and hallucinates that Graham is comforting her throughout.

The room is filled with the sound of automatic gunfire and both Grace and Graham are covered in blood. Suddenly, through the floor sprout many daffodils. Again, Graham picks one up and says ‘lovely’ (133). Robin buys a box of chocolates for Grace but is intercepted by Tinker who makes him eat them all until he wets himself. Grace undergoes shock therapy and becomes unresponsive until the sex change. But even then, all she can utter is the letter

‘F’. She has turned into an amalgamation of Grace and Graham; she looks and acts the same as her brother and is even referred to by Tinker as ‘Graham’.

Locations

The play is set in a university which has been turned into what seems to be some form of institution or concentration camp. Many of the rooms are referred to by colours that connotate certain meanings – The White Room as clinical and the place where the surgery and electric shock therapy occurs, The Red Room for blood and where the torture happens, and so forth. This also brings about a comparison of Strindberg’s concept of Stationendrama, in which rooms are “places of discovery and revelation for characters [and] constitute a form

32 of ongoing journey or pilgrimage.”87 For example, the Red Room provides the characters with the most violent parts of their journey but often this is where they encounter their realisations about their true feelings towards one another. The theatrical space of Cleansed can be described as having a “continuous and enclosed ‘as-if’ world, in which the everyday is relegated to the space offstage.”88

The fence

At the time of writing this, the 2018 World Cup has begun and thus, sadly, so has an increase of reports of domestic violence. According to reports, “incidents of domestic abuse … rose by 38% when England lost. When they won or drew abuse increased by 26% compared to days when there was no England match.”89 This is no doubt due to the prevalence of alcohol use during sports games, particularly football, but could patriarchal pressures also contribute?

Football and the stadiums in which it is played are typically ‘coded’ male, in that the majority of participants and spectators are male. The pressure to win and the competitive riling up of the other supporters can lead to aggressive behaviour. As demonstrated by the statistics, when

‘their’ team lost, men would let their anger out on their wives, mothers, sisters, children. In domestic abuse cases following a football match, it can be concluded that the perpetrators are projecting their anger onto their victims and using violence to provide them with an emotional release. Typically, in these cases, the victims are women and the perpetrators are men; they are usually related to one another by marriage or blood and share a home together.

87 Graham Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), 94. 88 Annette Pankratz, “Neither Here nor There: Theatrical Space in Kane’s Work,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 153. 89 Sky News, “Police Prepare for Domestic Abuse Surge as England Start World Cup Campaign,” Sky News, 2018, https://news.sky.com/story/police-prepare-for-domestic-abuse-surge-as-england-start-world-cup- campaign-11407723. 33

In Nina Kane’s doctoral thesis, she proposes a link between the university perimeter fence in

Cleansed and the hooliganism of British football fans, taking the connection of violence one step further. She discusses the use of ‘cages’ within football stadiums, arguing that “the fencing-in of football hooligans represented the detainment of a violent masculinity, monitored through surveillance, but allowed to exist and express itself within its 'cage’.”90

This reflects the goings-on in the university, where Tinker enacts horrific violence onto the other characters and appears to be all-knowing. Nina Kane argues that football matches also contain a feeling of institutionalisation, wherein people feel contained and controlled.

Furthermore, she proposes that the fence acts as a “binary divider within an ontology of gender relations that puts men on the inside of the fence and women on the outside”91 so by placing the action of the play, and therefore the audience, within the fence, “Kane ultimately enacts a transgressive spectacle of gender violence and intervention in Cleansed that inherently militates for a queer reading of the work.”92 Through her presentation of violence towards certain characters, we are able to read the work through a queer lens, and therefore a fourth-wave feminist lens.

All of the characters in Cleansed, besides Tinker, are victims of violence and they seem to share a commonality – they are all part of marginalized or misunderstood groups. This can be taken as a representation of real world examples and therefore be analysed from a feminist perspective.

Influences

90 Nina R. Kane, “‘F- f- Felt It’: Breathing Feminist, Queer and Clown Thinking into the Practice and Study of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed and Blasted” (University of Huddersfield, 2013), http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/19287/ 261. 91 Ibid, 254. 92 Ibid, 254. 34

Sarah Kane directed a version of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner at the Gate Theatre in 1997 and this was said to be her inspiration for Cleansed. Urban argues that her aim was to “create a series of twenty episodes that could be played in a variety of orders and which could exist almost independently,”93 much like Woyzeck. She was also inspired by A Lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes, a French philosophy book written in 1977. The book contained a

“controversial parallel between a rejected lover and an inmate of Dachau”94 which Kane viewed as “a comment on heightened states of emotion within claustrophobic settings.”95 It is clear to see her inspiration in Cleansed, with the university acting like a cage for the characters. She also commented that she felt A Lover’s Discourse was “about a loss of self.

And when you lose yourself, where do you go? There’s nowhere to go; it’s actually a kind of madness.”96

The most obvious comparison of the content of Cleansed is to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, particularly due to the similarities of Grace and Viola. In Twelfth Night, Viola is separated from her brother due to a shipwreck and dresses as a man in order to serve the duke. She is often mistaken for her brother due to their similarity in looks and her wearing masculine clothes. So, whilst there is some gender confusion, unlike in Cleansed, things are returned to normal at the end. This is a common device used in Shakespearean plays. In comparison,

Grace is turned into her brother Graham biologically and irreversibly through the means of surgery. Her “use of disguise is not done for theatrical or comic effect”97 but instead is the character’s true intention. Tinker could also be compared to being “a far darker version of

93 Ken Urban, “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 23, no. 3 (2001): 42. 94 Francesca Rayner, “Written on the Body: Gender, Violence and Queer Desire in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed,” Ex Aequo 20 (2009): 56. 95 Ibid, 57. 96 Ibid, 42-43. 97 Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes, 95. 35

Malvolio but his function is the same: policing the stage and snuffing out the smallest expressions of human affection and love in others.”98

There are clear links to World War II with the connotation of the concentration camps. This also raises the question of the personal and political, which is also a concern of feminism -

“combin[ing] a deluded and obsessive form of love set inside a repressive institution that attempts to crush this particular emotion.”99 Despite that, Kane again wanted to avoid being geographically specific and stated in interviews that she didn’t want to categorise it as specifically about Germany. This is similar to Blasted being ‘specific’ to Bosnia; she preferred to reference various historical moments in the world yet did not seek to represent them.

Violence

All of the characters in Cleansed undergo severe punishments for their expressions of love.

The relationships between the characters are typically forbidden – for example, Carl and Rod are in a homosexual relationship, which is still frowned-upon or even illegal in some parts of the world. Kane is being feminist in her portrayal of love in that she is giving a voice to marginalised groups whose love is politicised. For example, Carl and Rod’s relationship could be seen as controversial. Whilst in the real world, it may be governments that take responsibility for the punishment of these ‘rule-breakers’ in his institution, in Cleansed it is

Tinker who takes on the role as authority. Whether or not this is morally correct is irrelevant as he is representative of the controlling politics of love. With a feminist perspective, though it may be obvious, Tinker would be considered in a bad light and could be painted to

98 Ibid, 96. 99 Saunders, About Kane: The Playwright and The Work. 36 represent the controlling heteropatriarchy. However, despite all of this, love is showed to be redemptive and all-encompassing. Despite the torturous experiences, the characters prevail due to the love they share.

We do not know the circumstances of the characters – where they come from or what happens prior to the action of the play. However, if we are to presume that they have been forced or coerced into this institution, we can compare it to the concentration camps of

WWII. In doing that, we can attempt to understand the kinds of relationships that form under the regime. Often, in a confined space where violence is present, the relationships with the fellow victims is all that they have to motivate them. Here, they can find love, the most humanising emotion of all. The sunflowers act as a symbol of love, hope and redemption, appearing through the cracks of the stage following torture or rape scenes. They serve as a reminder for the characters, as well as the audience, that love can conquer all, even in such diminished conditions.

As in Blasted, Kane uses her text as a depiction of brutal stage imagery wherein “physicality is overtly displayed.”100 She uses the language of the spoken text and the stage directions to create images, often grotesque yet sometimes beautiful. For example, the contrast between

Tinker pushing a rod up Carl’s anus with Grace and Graham’s dance. This contrast is made stark when the images are placed side by side, such as when Carl and Rod make love together and immediately afterwards Tinker slits Carl’s throat. According to Bicer:

100 Maria Elena Capitani, “Dealing with Bodies: The Corporeal Dimension in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed and Martin Crimp’s The Country,” Journal of Contemporary Drama in English 1, no. 1 (2013): 137–48, doi:10.1515/jcde- 2013-0013. 37

“These conflicting sensibilities between the experiential and textual produces a fascinating tension in Kane’s writing, whereby periods of ‘calm’ or lyricism are often followed by eruptions of physical, emotional or verbal violence.”101

The effect is not dissimilar to Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, in which he aimed to jolt his audience by exposing them to the pain of the dramatic subject. In his own book, Artaud proposed the use of “violent physical images [to] crush and hypnotize the sensibility of the spectator seized by the theatre as by a whirlwind of higher forces.”102 Cleansed, like the

Theatre of Cruelty, contains features such as “the diminution of language, the extraordinary set and theatrical imagery, the ritualised cruelty, its extremes of love and pain.”103 Further to that, her and Artaud alike place the audience in the position of “voyeur … only to shock them into recognition of the ethical consequences of their complicity with onstage violence.”104 By making the audience watch the torture unfold before them, they are encouraged to bring into question their involvement with the action. This idea can be taken on board in real life, encouraging people to take initiative and stand up for what they believe in. For example, when a person witnesses a sexist act, i.e. catcalling, they could be encouraged to fight back by calling out what is wrong. This reflects my earlier mention of ‘fighting back with feminism’.

In the first production of Cleansed, the violence was “highly stylized.”105 In Woodworth’s analysis of the use of blood in some of Sarah Kane’s plays, she discusses this original production wherein the ‘blood’ was represented with various red textiles. She states that

“Cleansed marked Kane’s movement away from representational, illusionistic practices and a

101 Bicer, “Sarah Kane’s Postdramatic Strategies in Blasted, Cleansed and Crave.” 102 Antonin Artaud, Theatre of Cruelty, 1958, 83. 103 Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes, 91. 104 Rayner, “Written on the Body: Gender, Violence and Queer Desire in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed.”, 60. 105 Christine Woodworth, “‘Summon up the Blood’: The Stylized (or Sticky) Stuff of Violence in Three Plays by Sarah Kane,” Theatre Symposium 18 (2010). 38 move towards an aesthetic that was marked by heightened theatricality.”106 The use of stylized ‘blood’ served to add distance between the audience and the performance. Here, it can be said that there is a clear Brechtian influence. For example “when Carl’s tongue was cut out, a red ribbon was pulled from his mouth … when Carl’s hands and feet were cut off, red sleeves or scarves were pulled over his limbs to look like bloody stumps.”107 Saunders argues that compared to Blasted, “Cleansed goes even further to redefine the staged representation of staged violence, and to provoke a response in the audience through the effect that lies behind the action,”108 utilising both Artaudian and Brechtian techniques.

Bodies become the “locus” of identity, or “a battlefield in which the identity conflict is explicitly situated.” (140) The punishments the characters undergo are all physical, including body mutilations and beatings. “The fragmentation of bodies and deconstruction of meanings are closely interwoven with stage imagery.”109 Furthermore, the punishments are specific to what the character has said or done – “a direct violent representation of the corresponding

‘crime’.”110 This is most clearly seen with Carl, where his tongue is removed after betraying his lover by speaking and his limbs are removed after attempting to write and dance. His methods of communication are taken away from him, and yet he still continues to attempt to speak to his lover in some form or another. And of course, Rod’s punishment alludes to the act of anal sex – a direct rejection by Tinker of their homosexual relationship.

106 Ibid, 17. 107 Ibid. 108 Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes. 109 Capitani, “Dealing with Bodies: The Corporeal Dimension in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed and Martin Crimp’s The Country.” 60. 110 Ibid, 86. 39

Victims and perpetrators

Annabelle Singer makes an important note: “Unlike Blasted, the violence runs in only one direction: Carl and Grace are victims of violence but never the perpetrators.”111 This is a noticeable difference to Blasted, wherein Ian serves as both the perpetrator and the victim of violent acts. Further to that, Tinker appears vulnerable at times, proving that the victim- perpetrator binary is never clear-cut. Saunders states: “the supreme irony regarding Tinker, is that someone who so systematically attempts to destroy love in others is in fact yearning to express and reciprocate love himself.”112 However, I ask, is this ironic? To me, it makes sense that someone who desires love but has yet to find it, would be repulsed by seeing it in others? This appears to be a classic case of envy, particularly considering his close relationship to Grace, who is enamoured with her own brother.

In the scene where Grace is raped by disembodied Voices, they taunt her, saying she’s

“gagging for it Begging for it Barking for it.” (132) It is suggested that the rape is justified because of her relationship with Graham - “Dead, slag She was having it off with her brother.” (131) This, of course, brings about arguments of real-life rape cases where the perpetrator may argue that she was ‘asking for it’ in justification for their actions. Of course, the nature of rape ensures that nobody can ‘ask’ for it, as it is defined by its lack of consent.

Kane’s work depicts violence and in particular, sexual violence towards women or other minorities. In Cleansed, we can see Tinker as the upholder of the rules as he punishes those who commit what he would consider a crime or a sin. The rape of Grace reminds us of the reasoning some people can give for why women ‘deserve’ it. They ignore basic bodily and sexual autonomy and do not consider the person’s consent. Though these depictions are

111 Annabelle Singer, “Don’t Want to Be This: The Elusive Sarah Kane,” TDR: The Drama Review 48, no. 2 (2004): 139–71, doi:10.1162/105420404323063445. 112 Saunders, “Love Me Or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes, 98. 40 painful and emotional to view on stage, I believe it is important to see them. These kinds of graphic scenes bring about open and honest conversation, as they remove barriers or taboos.

Breaking gender binaries

In Cleansed we see the presentation of gender non-conformity, notably in the character of

Grace. In her doctoral thesis, Rayner cites Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity in support of her argument that Cleansed uses its characters to metaphorize the experiences of queer identities, in particular through violence. She states:

“The three narratives within the play explore the permeability of gender and sexual

identities through the central metaphor of violence. This violence is not only

symptomatic of the violence involved in the assumption of any gendered or sexual

identity, whether heterosexual or queer, male or female, it appears, according to Kane

to also be central to processes of liberation from these norms.”113

The characters represent queer experiences, for example, Grace going through a female-to- male transgender transition and Carl and Rod’s homosexual relationship. The punishments

Tinker deals out reflect directly on the identities of the characters, as he represents the oppression of the heteropatriarchy – the society in which we live which is heteronormative as well as patriarchal. Rayner goes on, “the compulsion to perform one’s gender or sexual role is, however, explicit throughout, as are the severe consequences for those who fail to perform gender and sexual roles correctly.”114 This can be applied to real world examples of those who defy gender norms. I agree with Rayner’s statement and I feel that Kane is aiming to demonstrate the abuse that marginalized groups have to face. In western culture, though it is

113 Rayner, “Written on the Body: Gender, Violence and Queer Desire in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed.”, 55. 114 Ibid, 57. 41 arguably changing in recent times, there is still a massive problem with heteronormativity.

People are presumed straight until they ‘come out’; people who do not identify with binary genders are berated, or worse, and people who stray outside of that binary are seen as abnormal. Those who do not conform to gender norms are punished and I believe Kane is seeking to depict that in Cleansed.

Grace’s transition begins by her wearing Graham’s clothes; clothes can be a signifier of gender. For example, Robin wearing Grace’s tights, which are coded as female. Tights can be considered a repressive patriarchal tool, similar to high heels which were also invented for the aesthetic, to please the male gaze. He later hangs himself with these tights. It could be proposed that this is a symbolic act in defiance of the patriarchy and oppressive gender roles.

Grace, on the other hand, puts on Graham’s clothes which are coded male. Interestingly,

Grace is only permitted to remain at the institution after she puts on Graham’s clothes, as the place is male only. She then takes this one step further in mirroring his actions – she takes on the masculinity of the way he moves. Her transition into Graham seems to take place on a mental level as well as physical, with her stating she desires to be male on the outside to

‘match’ the inside. This reflects the journey that a transgender person may undergo during their own transition.

Grace’s “deepest desire is to physically become [Graham] in order to overcome the split between inside and outside.”115 Tinker puts Grace through surgery where he replaces her female anatomy with Carl’s penis, which he has earlier removed. She is referred to as

Graham by Tinker, to complete this transition. However, we are unsure that Grace is truly on board with her transition. “We cannot say Grace would necessarily protest the sex change— with it she can become Graham—but, in this state, we know she does not realize what Tinker

115 Capitani, “Dealing with Bodies: The Corporeal Dimension in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed and Martin Crimp’s The Country.”, 139. 42 is suggesting, nor does she realize that she is even complying.”116 This is hugely problematic, and it removes Grace’s agency from her situation.

Identity is a massive theme, with Kane’s belief that love removes one’s selfhood becoming clear throughout the play. Bicer states that the characters in the play “change their identities by adopting each others’ names, by exchanging clothes and even bodies so that the distinctions between the individuals slowly disappear.”117 Eventually their identities are diminished, not only in their outward appearance but also mentally. Tinker uses electric shock therapy to achieve this, but it seems Kane is suggesting that it is due to love that their identities are lost.

Staging

Directed by Benedict Andrews in 2005, Cleansed was performed at the Schaubühne am

Lehniner Platz in Berlin, Germany. In his performance review, Steve Earnest describes the set which took form in the building’s black box space. “It featured a polished stone façade with an expensive stone stage space on either side of the central sunk pool area, which remained empty for much of the production.”118 Andrews opted to provide a more stylized approach for depicting the violence in the text. “Tinker used a vial of black ink and a small brush to represent violent action, painting a line on Rod’s throat to demonstrate cutting (after which Rod spat out black ink), and painting Carl’s hands and feet black to signify their amputation”.119 This way of directing the piece could provide a way of viewing violence with the knowledge of its happening but without displaying it overtly explicitly. The room

116 Ibid, 150. 117 Bicer, “Sarah Kane’s Postdramatic Strategies in Blasted, Cleansed and Crave.”, 79. 118 Steve Earnest, “Performance Review: ‘Cleansed,’” Theatre Journal 58, no. 1 (2006): 110–12. 119 Ibid, 111. 43 contained a basin which filled with water at various times. Earnest points out that this highlights the title – to be cleansed, or to be clean. However, the once ‘clean’ water becomes tainted. Through the “persistent use of ink”, this “provid[ed] a thematic as well as practical purpose: the staining of the water symbolized Tinker’s negative judgement of their act [of making love] as well as serving the practical purpose of masking the nudity and overt sexuality of the scenes.”120

Kane was originally planning on making Blasted and Cleansed part of a trilogy, “the last of which was to be concerned with nuclear devastation”121 but she scrapped this idea and moved into a new direction with her next play, Crave. This could explain the similarities between the first two plays. All in all, Cleansed is a play that reflects Kane’s interest in love, identity, sexuality and of course, violence. These themes can be analysed with a feminist scope as the movement is also primarily concerned with these issues.

Phaedra’s Love

Phaedra’s Love saw Kane “continue the process of fragmenting naturalism.”122 Written in

1996 as a commission for Gate Theatre, Kane’s original choices were either her own version of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner or Baal by Bertolt Brecht, but she decided on Phaedra by

Seneca. “Kane’s play takes the skeleton of Seneca’s story (and that of Euripides before him).”123 Phaedra’s Love is centred around a royal family, based on the Greek myth of

Phaedra and later the play by Seneca. In the myth, Phaedra falls in love with Hippolytus, who is the son of her husband, Theseus. Upon being rejected, she claims to have been raped

120 Ibid, 111. 121 Greig, “Introduction.” X. 122 Ibid, XIII. 123 Elizabeth Barry, “‘Conscious Sin’: Seneca, Sarah Kane and the Appraisal of Emotion,” 2013, 123. 44 by Hippolytus out of revenge. In one version, Theseus kills Hippolytus which leads to

Phaedra committing suicide as she felt to blame. The main difference between the original texts and Kane’s interpretation is the character of Hippolytus. In Seneca’s Phaedra,

“Hippolytus was chaste and morally virtuous. Kane’s is not.”124 Of course, Kane puts her usual ‘touch’ on her take of her play, with the inclusion of graphic rape and violence. This is different to the original Euripides’ story, as in Ancient Greek theatre, most violence would occur offstage in a method known as obskene. However, the play is funnier than her others, in her own way. Lines such as Hippolytus’ “not very logical” (79) after Phaedra confesses her love for him demonstrate her dry and witty humour. The play is the first of hers “to deal explicitly with what was to become her main theme: love,”125 as seen developed in her later plays, Cleansed, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis.

The play is concerned with the incestuous relationship between Phaedra and Hippolytus.

Phaedra is married to Theseus, Hippolytus’ father, making her his stepmother. She has inappropriate, incestuous desires towards her stepson and makes these clear in her conversations with him. The play opens with Hippolytus engaging in his typical, hedonistic behaviour – eating hamburgers in the dark whilst watching TV. He sits and masturbates, showing no pleasure when he orgasms, then continuing to eat. The next scene shows Phaedra in conversation with the royal doctor, discussing her concerns with Hippolytus’ excessive lifestyle. She states that he pays women to come visit him for sexual intercourse; the rest of the time he is sat alone watching TV, eating or playing video games, as we see in the first scene. The doctor speculates around Phaedra’s inappropriate feelings for Hippolytus, but she denies them, stating their relationship is that of step-mother and step-son only. Scene three is similar; Phaedra discusses her desires with her daughter, Strophe. Strophe worries what

124 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.”, 235. 125 Greig, “Introduction.”, XI. 45 people will think or say if the public finds out, a foreshadowing for the later events of the play. She advises her mother to get over him and she reluctantly agrees to. Then in scene four, Phaedra and Hippolytus have their first onstage interaction. She comes into his room, where he is watching television whilst playing with a toy car, “apparently getting pleasure from neither.” (74) His stepmother provides him with birthday presents that have been left outside the palace by members of the public. He comments on the depressing goings-on outside of the palace that are ignored due to his birthday, showing an awareness of the poor state of the country but without an ounce of compassion. “I don’t care,” (75) he says. Phaedra confesses her love for him despite sharing all the horrible traits he has – “You’re difficult.

Moody, cynical, bitter, fat, decadent, spoilt.” (79) The pair talk about sex, with Hippolytus explaining that he gets no pleasure from intercourse. Phaedra then gives him her own birthday present in the form of oral sex. He does not show any enjoyment and holds her head down as he ejaculates. Phaedra, overcome with emotion, begins to cry. She states that she feels guilty having never been unfaithful before but stands by her feelings for him. When she mentions Lena, presumably an ex-lover of Hippolytus, he reacts violently and grabs her by the throat. When he releases her, he taunts her by mentioning his sexual experience with

Strophe and revealing that she also slept with Theseus. She responds by slapping him around the face. He continues to taunt her and reveals he has a sexually transmitted disease. Despite all of this, she states she does not hate him. In scene five, Strophe and Hippolytus have a conversation wherein Strophe reveals that Phaedra has accused him of rape. He seems unfazed, stating plainly “how exciting.” (86) In fact, he appears to be excited by the idea that

“things are looking up” (86) and becoming interesting. Strophe then reveals that Phaedra has killed herself and begins hitting Hippolytus. He stops her and she wails in pain. Hippolytus says he is happy to take the blame for her death and the pair embrace. Strophe says that she will help him hide from the repercussions, but he insists he turns himself in. The next scene

46 sees Hippolytus in a prison cell, presumably having confessed to the crime. A priest enters and the two of them discuss Hippolytus’ relationship to God. Hippolytus’ views are clear –

“fuck God.” (95) Realising his efforts to make him believe are futile, the priest performs oral sex on him instead. Scene seven contains no dialogue and features Phaedra’s body lying on a pyre. Theseus enters and pulls at his clothes and hair until he is exhausted, yet he does not cry. Instead he declares that he will murder Hippolytus for what he has done. The final and longest scene of the play takes place outside the court, where a crowd of people have gathered. Theseus and Strophe are amongst them in disguise. They converse with the rest of the crowd about the potential verdict of the case against Hippolytus. When he leaves the court, he breaks free from the policemen holding him back into the arms of his father. As he realises, Theseus demands he be killed and members of the public violently murder him.

Strophe attempts to defend him and Theseus, not realising who she is, rapes and kills her in retaliation for “defending a rapist.” (101) As Hippolytus is brutally dismembered, he recognizes the body of Strophe. Theseus realizes what has happened and, in his guilt, slits his own throat. The play ends with a vulture descending on the bodies and Hippolytus’ last words

– “if there could have been more moments like this.” (103)

Hierarchy

The royal family in Phaedra’s Love is one of corruption, lies and intrigue. They are a mix of blood relations – Phaedra being married to Theseus and having her own daughter, Strophe, whilst he has his own son, Hippolytus. It is also clear to see the links between this fictional,

Greek-inspired, contemporary royal family with the British royal family. Oddly enough, the play was written before Princess Diana’s death but there are parallels that can be drawn between her tragic death and that of Phaedra’s. Princess Diana was viewed as an outsider,

47 being married to Prince Charles and not of royal blood. In the case of Phaedra’s Love, Kane depicts Phaedra and Strophe “as outsiders to the royal household, and in a cynical move are brought in by the old order in an attempt to refresh and restore its mystique.”126 Similar can be said for Princess Diana, whose youthful yet outspoken appearance stirred up the royal family and how they were perceived by the public. Diana was critiqued for not matching the ideals of the royal family and her marriage ended after both herself and Charles had affairs.

After they split, she married another man, who happened to be Muslim, and the royal family were outraged. Shortly after she died in a tragic car crash, said to be the fault of paparazzi chasing the car she was in. There are also conspiracy theories surrounding her death, suggesting that the royal family killed her off to protect their reputation since she was a risk and ‘knew too much’. The royal family is a representation of white colonialism so there is little wonder that there are conspiracies surrounding the death of Diana, who openly defied their norms.

The public’s perception and media also played a massive part in Diana’s life and death, the same way it did for Phaedra in Phaedra’s Love. It seems that “Kane is interested in the modern phenomenon of the adulation of celebrity, lumping the Royal Family in with those who are famous for being famous and not for any extraordinary talent.”127 Her critical view of the royal family, as well as the public reaction to them, is clear.

At the start of the play, it is clear that the public is enamoured with Hippolytus, leaving him gifts outside the palace for his birthday. Kane is concerned with “the irrationality of those at the top receiving mass adoration for no inherent quality, but simply by chance of birth.”128

126 Graham Saunders, “‘If There Could Have Been More Moments like This’: Phaedra’s Love,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 71–81. 127 Marshall, “Saxon Violence and Social Decay in Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love and Tony Harrison’s Prometheus.” 128 Ibid, 171. 48

However, this quickly turns around upon Phaedra’s accusation that he raped her, and the public believe her over him, especially since she takes the drastic action of killing herself to solidify her claim. Now that her accusation appears infallible, the public turns on Hippolytus and end up forming a crowd outside of the court. The public is ready to berate and physically attack Hippolytus for what he has supposedly done.

In the final scene, members of the crowd talk casually as though this trial were a form of entertainment for them, stating they’d brought their families and friends, along with a barbeque. They taunt Hippolytus and are ready to attack him when Theseus suggests to do so.

This sort of crowd mentality is extremely dangerous and can be seen occurring in many circumstances in our society. Though the crowd’s reaction of violence and even rape seems overdramatic, this can sadly be the case in real life. “The brutal images belie the violence of the Royals, a family that exists as little more than a nostalgic and repressive ideal, and whose present function is one of smug self-satisfaction.”129 This self-satisfaction is perfectly symbolised by Hippolytus’ hedonistic behaviours. The violent acts towards the royal family mean the play “concludes with the complete decimation of the royal family.”130

Kane aims to remind us that those in places of hierarchal power do not mean superiority. In fact, she presents the royal family in her play as extremely flawed characters, particularly

Hippolytus. He engages in grotesque behaviours, such as masturbating into socks and leaving them on the floor. He takes no care in his appearance and gorges himself on fast food while lounging in front of the television. As Marshall points out, “there is no reason for anyone to be attracted to this man beyond his status as a member of the royal family.”131 Not only is the

129 Ken Urban, “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 23, no. 3 (2001): 42. 130 Marshall, “Saxon Violence and Social Decay in Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love and Tony Harrison’s Prometheus.” 131 Ibid, 171. 49 public’s adoration of Hippolytus confusing, but Phaedra’s desire for him seems to be unfounded. But perhaps, Kane is making the point that love is illogical and albeit cliché, ‘you can’t help who you fall in love with’.

Overall, Kane’s disdainful view of the royal family is reflected through Hippolytus’ behaviours, Phaedra’s misguided desires, the public’s reaction and the violence depicted onstage. It could be said that the point she is making is reflective of society: “The moral void of the royal family has become the moral void of the state as a whole.”132 This moral void is clearly reflected in Phaedra’s incestuous desires, but also in Hippolytus’ hedonistic and nihilistic attitudes.

False rape accusations

The play is centred around Phaedra’s rape accusation, which we, as the audience, know to be untrue having seen the scene unfold before us onstage. The way in which it is depicted proves that Phaedra has inappropriate desires for her stepson and wishes to be with him, romantically and sexually.

Hippolytus is a nihilistic young man who indulges in his sexual desires with little satisfaction.

She tells Strophe that Hippolytus has raped her before killing herself – and this accusation has serious consequences. In fact, it leads to the deaths of the entire family, not just herself,

Hippolytus but also her daughter and her husband. The implications of false rape accusations in the real world may not have such theatrical and drastic consequences, but they are still severe and they affect the true survivors of sexual assault.

132 Ibid, 174. 50

What I will refer to as the ‘rape myth’ is the way that people perceive that false rape accusations occur much more frequently than in actuality. This rape myth can easily be debunked. According to a report on ‘Charging Perverting The Course Of Justice And

Wasting Police Time In Cases Involving Allegedly False Rape And Domestic Violence

Allegations’133, in a sixteen month period between January 2011 and May 2012, in England and Wales, out of 5,651 prosecutions for rape, there were only 35 prosecutions for false rape claims. Though these figures cannot be considered an accurate representative for actual statistics of the events taken place, it can be suggestive of the number of instances that false rape accusations take place. They are rare and are in no way comparable to the scale of actual rapes taking place.

It is also important to consider that there is a stigma surrounding rape accusations to begin with, with many women not being believed when they speak out. They are told various excuses such as ‘if you were wearing that’ or ‘if you said that’, then ‘you asked for it.’134

There are many reasons women do not come forward to report sexual assaults, and not being believed is often the main cause. So, the amount of unreported rapes is higher than falsely reported ones, making the total amount of actual events of rape even larger.

The implications of false rape accusations are the creation of the belief that women are not to be trusted; this idea is already perpetuated by society in many other ways, but the removal of sexual agency and presumed knowledge of their body is another means of diminishing women’s autonomy. It can also create a dangerous ‘boy who called wolf’ scenario, wherein women telling the truth about their sexual assaults are not believed. This can lead to women feeling as though they will not be believed or listened to and therefore hesitant to report.

133 Alison Levitt and Crown Prosecution Service Equality and Diversity, “Charging Perverting The Course Of Justice And Wasting Police Time In Cases Involving Allegedly False Rape And Domestic Violence Allegations,” 2013, 1–44. 134 This is clearly reflected in the rape of Grace in Cleansed, as discussed in earlier sections. 51

There are also fears of repercussions, such as loss of employment if their employer finds out about the accusations or even losing their family and friends, who may be connected to the perpetrator. Furthermore, men are often given second chances and are typically believed over women. Reasoning may include “she wanted attention, she wanted his money, she was mentally ill, she was a slut, she changed her mind,” – all of which are apparently fair enough excuses for the violent act of rape. Rapists that are reported and prosecuted, which is a small percentage, are often given lenient sentences. For instance, Brock Turner, who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman in an alleyway only served three months in jail.135 Of course, jailtime does not equal justice but it can be understood how all these potential outcomes can lead to women feeling disheartened. Lastly, false rape accusations can ruin the lives of those falsely accused. Such a serious allegation can remain on someone’s record and tarnish their reputation, regardless of its validity.

In Phaedra’s Love, we see some of these real-life consequences act out in Hippolytus’ brutal death. Though he has been falsely accused, he is punished brutally. As mentioned before, the public is quick to judge Hippolytus for his actions and there is no fact-checking involved.

Phaedra is taken at her word, particularly since she has committed suicide and there is no defending of her statement to be had.

The word ‘rape’ could be used with less strict ties to its true definition, referring instead of a more symbolic kind of ‘rape’. I argue against this, as I feel to use the word as hyperbole detracts from the seriousness of the act. However, I can understand why some critics take to attempting to empathize with Phaedra following Hippolytus’ rejection. For instance, Graham

Saunders states that he “could see how Hippolytus’ brutal contempt and rejection of her obsessive love for him could be likened to a form of mental rape.”136 It could be said that the

136 Saunders, “‘If There Could Have Been More Moments like This’: Phaedra’s Love.” 52 utter heartbreak could be compared to the pain, emotional and physical, of rape. We can acknowledge her pain, but to use the word ‘rape’ as hyperbolic is dangerous and unfair.

“There can be little doubt that Phaedra was abused, at least emotionally. But there is nothing in Kane’s play to suggest that she was raped in any sense that might be recognized in law.”137

The danger of this is considering legality the be-all-and-end-all definition of what is truth, as it completely negates the consideration of morals which may exist outside of law. However,

Hippolytus, too “sees that ‘rape’ is a plausible substitute for what happened in both cases, an analogy for the emotional damage caused and the humiliation associated with a sexual act without intimacy or respect.”138 Hippolytus accepts the accusation of rape, even though he is aware that the scenario that occurred would not technically be considered rape, as she proposed the idea and consented to the act. Even Hippolytus acknowledges that Phaedra has used the term ‘rape’ to define what has happened “There is a subtlety in Hippolytus’s observation that if a rape victim feels she was raped then so, disregarding legal nicety, in a sense she was.”139 This is true to an extent but also dangerous to consider, since we are dealing with a false rape accusation here. We must also think about real-life scenarios as legality is not the be-all-and-end-all definition of rape. As Saunders points out, the use of the term is to emphasise the emotional pain Phaedra is experiencing. He says, “what Hippolytus does to Phaedra is not rape—but the English language doesn’t contain the words to describe the emotional decimation he inflicts. ‘Rape’ is the best word Phaedra can find for it, the most violent and potent, so that’s the word she uses. (85)”140

Phaedra’s accusation does have some positive consequences, if one were to view it that way.

First of all, her accusation leads to the implosion of the royal family and thus the system upon

137 Ibid, 235. 138 Barry, “‘Conscious Sin’: Seneca, Sarah Kane and the Appraisal of Emotion.”, 134. 139 Saunders, “‘If There Could Have Been More Moments like This’: Phaedra’s Love.”, 235. 140 Ibid, 235. 53 which it is based. She rejects the hierarchal norms which are based on violence and deceit and takes control. Phaedra “attacks with disarming honesty not only the sexual corruption of the royal political establishment but also the broader ideological and moral underpinnings of a social structure that supports it.”141 Further to that, by bringing rape into the public conversation, she makes Hippolytus recognise the reality of his attitudes. Though he is not necessarily misogynistic as he is in the original Seneca version, he is self-centred and hedonistic, in search of pleasure, no matter who or what is involved. Her talk of rape

“eliminates the comfortable distance that Hippolytus has created between the reality of rape and the televised sexual scenes he watches, thereby shattering the fantasies of his solitary existence and thrusting upon him the ugliness of public life.”142 Of course, we can recognise this ugliness as the violent actions that take place at the end of the play and culminate in

Hippolytus’ death. And centrally to the plot of the play, Phaedra’s “false accusation leads

Hippolytus finally to understand the force of her love: ‘She really did love me’ (91)”143

Incest and Consent

Again, as in Cleansed, one of the central themes of the play is incest. Though Phaedra and

Hippolytus are not related by blood, they are by marriage, as Phaedra is married to his father,

Theseus. She has clearly been left deprived of love as Theseus has not seen her since they were wed. She is feeling lonely, perhaps sexually frustrated, and as a result, she finds herself having inappropriate desires for her stepson. Unlike the incest in Cleansed, wherein Grace and Graham seem to share a mutual connection, the relationship in Phaedra’s Love is

141 Zina Giannopoulou, “Staging Power: The Politics of Sex and Death in Seneca’s Phaedra and Kane’s Phaedra’s Love,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 66. 142 Ibid. 143 Anja Müller-Wood, “The Fatal Effects of Phaedra’s Love: Sarah Kane,” in Myth and Violence in the Contemporary Female Text (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 108. 54 extremely one-sided. Hippolytus shows no interest in his stepmother and seems bemused by her advances, taunting her before his final rejection. Most disturbing to consider is the position of power that Phaedra is in, as the more mature parent-figure of ‘stepmother’. She is not considerate of these familial boundaries and chooses to ignore them in favour of her desires.

The relationship between Hippolytus and Phaedra bears resemblance to the psychology term,

‘the Oedipus Complex’, though it is in reverse. A recent psychology article details Sigmund

Freud’s theory, known as the Oedipus Complex, which comes from the Greek tragedy

Oedipus Rex, wherein the titular character kills his father and marries his mother. The article states: “The Oedipal complex, also known as the Oedipus complex, is a term used by Sigmund Freud in his theory of psychosexual stages of development to describe a child's feelings of desire for his or her opposite-sex parent and jealousy and anger toward his or her same-sex parent.”144 In the original psychology concept, it is the parent who is the object of desire but in the case of Hippolytus and Phaedra, it is the other way round. Phaedra is the parent-figure and has desires for her step-son, Hippolytus.

There is also Strophe to consider as she is also incestuously involved as she has slept with both Theseus, her step-father, and Hippolytus, her step-brother. Though they are not blood- related, it still adds further confusion to the already complicated family situation. The false rape accusation also leads indirectly to Strophe’s rape and death, perpetrated by Theseus, her step-father. It is shown that Theseus rapes her in act of rage, as she attempts to defend

Hippolytus in the final scene. “It is a wholly random rape, by a violent stranger who just happens to be the victim’s stepfather.”145 It could be argued by some, that this is ‘justice’

144 Kendra Cherry, “What Is an Oedipus Complex?,” Verywellmind, 2018, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-an-oedipal-complex-2795403. 145 Ward, “Rape and Rape Mythology in the Plays of Sarah Kane.”, 236. 55 being served for her having sex with Hippolytus. In some cases, rape is considered an appropriate punishment for things such as extramarital affairs. In my opinion, no person deserves to get raped, regardless of their previous actions, as it is a violent, painful act which removes your bodily autonomy.

This also reflects the notion that is often used in retaliation against feminism – ‘she could be someone’s sister,’ in reference to respecting woman according to their relationship to other men. This shows that men have more respect for other men than they do for women, as seen in examples where men approach a woman and only accept being told they’re not interested when the reason is that they are already ‘property’ of another man. It is pertinent to know and remember - a woman’s value is not in her relation to other men; she is valuable and valid as her own person.

Sexuality

Sexuality is very different for Hippolytus and Phaedra; they could be seen as two ends of a spectrum with one seeing sex as a necessity that no longer brings him pleasure and the other equating sex to love and vice versa. Hippolytus “uses his sexual partners in the same manner that he uses the filthy socks scattered around his room, as a convenient tool for the expeditious completion of a mechanical act whose only value lies in its level of proficiency.”146 Further so, the idea of using the socks then disposing of them with little care is reflected in his treatment of people. He shows little care for who he sleeps with, barely able to remember names, or even genders. It is also important to note that Hippolytus openly

146 Giannopoulou, “Staging Power: The Politics of Sex and Death in Seneca’s Phaedra and Kane’s Phaedra’s Love.”, 60. 56 admits to having sexual partners of both the opposite and the same sex. This again shows

Kane’s willingness to depict other sexualities in her work.

It could be said that Hippolytus is a critique on men in general, with his portrayal appearing as lazy and hedonistic. He shares some similarities with Ian from Blasted. “Both men are embittered nihilists who play out their frustrations on the women trapped with them, and both are also subjected to savage experiences that paradoxically result in insight being gained from catastrophe.”147 In contrast, Hippolytus’ behaviour totally opposes that of Phaedra who is overwhelmed with infatuation, unable to think straight. It could be said that Kane’s work pays particular interest to an “exploration of a male identity in which the processes of life no longer hold any meaning or joy”148

Interestingly whilst we see Hippolytus masturbating, as well as other men in other texts of

Kane’s, we never see women masturbating. There is a brief mention of Cate talking about

‘touching herself’ in Blasted, but otherwise it is solely depicted as a male behaviour. To me, this reflects the view of society; women are shamed for showing feelings of sexuality whilst men are told it’s normal. Masturbation is an activity for the sole purpose of self-satisfaction and pleasure. To deny women the ability to do this, or even discuss it, is to deny women’s sexuality altogether.

Staging

Kane directed Phaedra’s Love herself after deciding to take a more involved role; the production premiered at London’s Gate Theatre in 1996. Kane’s “experience with undesirable audience responses led her to consider less realistic staging as a means to lead the

147 Saunders, “‘If There Could Have Been More Moments like This’: Phaedra’s Love.” 148 Ibid. 57 audience to consider the violence and sexuality as serious and consequential, thus avoiding reflexes such as laughter or shock, which could lead to a dismissal of the content.”149 She found that some audience members reacted inappropriately to Blasted, albeit out of instinct, and she wanted to prevent this from happening again in her production of Phaedra’s Love.

Described by Kate Bassett as an “extravaganza of grisliness,”150 the play was full of shocking, bloody violence. During the final scene, as Hippolytus is killed through disembowelment and other gory torturous methods, blood and body parts were thrown around the stage and even into the audience. Kane aimed to “break down the barriers between audience and the actors where seating was dispersed around the theatre, and no single playing space selected”151 Actors were placed within the audience, only revealing themselves to be part of the play at the end when they stood up to form the crowd outside the court. It “ended with an almost literal bloodbath for the audience.”152 The very real threat of blood hitting the audience brought an entirely new level of engagement for the audience. “This transgression

(and potential staining) can also be read as an intentional breaching of those boundaries designed to implicate the spectator in much the same way as the audience plants and the arrangement of the space.”153

David Farr was a close friend of Sarah Kane’s and reflected on witnessing her rehearsal process for Phaedra’s Love. He stated: “entering her rehearsal room was like walking into a religion. Every actor was utterly consumed in their individual act of faith. Cas Harkins

149 Peter A. Campbell, “Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love: Staging the Implacable,” in Sarah Kane in Context (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), 173–83. 150 Kate Basset quoted in “Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love: Staging the Implacable,”. 151 Saunders, “‘If There Could Have Been More Moments like This’: Phaedra’s Love.” 152 Woodworth, “‘Summon up the Blood’: The Stylized (or Sticky) Stuff of Violence in Three Plays by Sarah Kane.”, 14. 153 Ibid, 16. 58

(Hippolytus) spent whole days alone in a cupboard-sized room.”154 Her directorial approach appeared to be as brutal as her themes of writing were. Farr commented on the piece itself, saying “the violence was stark, simple and utterly inevitable.”

It seems Kane’s intentions when directing her own work was to ensure that the messages she intended to represent came across successfully. She aimed to control the audience’s reaction by balancing the emotional moments, such as of Phaedra’s suicide, the humorous moments, mainly provided by Hippolytus, as well as the moments of violence, which she brought out into the audience.

Conclusion

To conclude, I have explored three of Sarah Kane’s plays through a fourth-wave feminist lens. The main themes I have encountered are violence towards women (including sexual assault and rape), gender and sexuality. In Blasted, the violence is experienced through Ian’s treatment of Cate and later, the soldier’s treatment of Ian. There is a polarising difference between the victims depending on their gender. In Cate’s rape, it occurs offstage, though other violence towards her is still visibly depicted. Ian turns from perpetrator into a victim following the Soldier’s entrance and subsequent sexual assault. This raises questions of sexuality as well as masculinity. In Cleansed, arguably the most brutal of all the plays due to its ongoing graphic violence and torture, we see alternative genders and sexualities being presented. Grace could be representative of the trans or non-binary point of view. Carl and

Rod are part of another oppressed group, homosexuals. All of these characters undergo punishments due to their identities. In Phaedra’s Love, we see violence depicted again,

154 David Farr, “‘Walking into Her Rehearsal Was like Entering a Religion,’” The Telegraph, October 2005, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/3647457/Walking-into-her-rehearsal-was-like-entering-a- religion.html. 59 though it mostly occurs at the end of the play. The main feminist concern of the play is the false rape accusation made by Phaedra against her stepson. The ‘rape myth’ is the idea that false rape accusations occur more frequently than they do in actuality. Kane’s depiction shows the devastating consequences when someone is falsely accused, as it leads to

Hippolytus’ brutal death as well as the rape and death of Strophe.

Through the use of fellow academic viewpoints, as well as my own personal fourth-wave feminist knowledge and opinions, I believe I have successfully argued that Sarah Kane can be read through a feminist lens. More specifically, her work can remain relevant two decades after its conception. Kane’s work reminds us that there is still more to be done for society to be truly equal and fair. Feminism is a movement which encourages this, and Kane’s work shines light on the problems that the patriarchy brings.

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