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Sarah Kane Sarah Kan
more: performances 1995-2000

 

1995 Blasted world premiere

Sarah Kane Blasted Blasted. The world premiere in London on 12 Jan 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre London.

The director was James Macdonald and the actors were Pip Donaghy (Ian), Kate Ashfield (Cate) and Dermot Kerrigan (soldier).

Designed by Franziska Wilkcen, Lighting by Jon Linstrum and Sound by Paul Arditti.

 

1996 Phaedra´s Love world premiere

Phaedra´s Love. The world premiere in London on 15 May 1996 at the Gate Theatre London.

The director was Sarah Kane and the actors were Cas Harkins (Hippolytus), Phillipa Williams (Phaedra), Catherine Cussack (Strophe), Andrew Maud (doctor, priest, Theseus), Giles Maud and Paolo De Paola (men), Catherine Neal and Diana Penny (women) and Andrew Scott (policeman).

Designed by Vian Curtis.

 

1997 Blasted (Dannati) Italian premiere

Blasted premiered on 16 Sept 1997 in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.  The director was Barbara Nativi who also did the translation.  The players were Silvia Guidi, Roberto Posse and Michele Anrei.

 

1998 Cleansed world premiere

Cleansed. The world premiere in London on 30 April 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre London.

The director was James Macdonald and the actors were Martin Marquez (Graham), Stuart McQuarrie (Tinker), James Cunningham (Carl), Danny Cerqueira (Rod), Sizan Sylvester (Grace), Daniel Evans (Robin) and Victoria Harwood (woman).

Designed by Jeremy Herbert, Lighting Designer Nigel Edwards, Sound Designer Paul Arditti and Movement Wayne MacGregor.

 

1998 Crave world premiere

Sarah Kane Crave Crave. The world premiere in Edinburgh on 13 Aug 1998 by Paines Plough at the Traverse Theatre.  There were try-outs from 11 Aug and the performances ran to 5 Sept.

The director was Vicky Featherstone and the actors were Sharon Duncan-Brewster (C), Ingrid Craigie (M), Paul Thomas Hickey (B) and Alan Williams (A).

Designed by Georgia Sion and Lighting by Nigel J. Edwards.

It is very tightly written, each speaker being almost like an instrument in a piece of music, each one following its own line but all coming together at climactic points throughout the piece. At times there are "solos", as a character speaks at some length; but much of the time the speech switches from one to the other.  It is a spilling out of raw emotion: anger, hurt and desire predominating.  This is the first time that Sarah Kane's work has been seen outside of London. It should not be the last! (from Fringe Reviews 9, 1998)

 

1998 Crave tour London, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands premiere

The premiere production toured London (Royal Court 8 Sept- 3 Oct), Germany (Sophiensaele 28-29 Sept as part of the Berlin Festival), Dublin (project@the mint 5-10 Oct as part of the Dublin Festival) and Maastricht in The Netherlands where Sarah Kane took over the role of C.

 

1998 Phaedra´s Love American premiere

The director was Lisa Rothschiller of Defiant Theater.

Kate Zambreno´s interview of Rothschiller, Newcity Chicago, 22 Mar 2001 says

Rothschiller's biggest challenge was finding a way to portray the brutality. "What was important to me is that the oppression is real enough to make the fight against it and the fight to love and the fight to remain a caring human being lovely and heartbreaking enough," she says. "If you totally soft-serve all the violence and make it arty and palatable, with ribbons coming out of the wrists, I think that's a cop-out."

 

1998 Cleansed (Purificati) Italian premiere

Cleansed was performed in Italian in Milan on 30 Apr 1998.  The director was Ivan Tolljaneich.

 

1998 Crave (Fame) Italian premiere

Crave was premiered in Italian at the Radicompili's Festival.  The premiere was 13 Aug 1998.  The director was Barbara Nativi.

 

1998 Cleansed (Gesäubert) German premiere

Peter Zadek´s infamous German version of Cleansed in Hamburg, 12 Dec 1998.

"Last December, I went to Hamburg to see the German premiere of Cleansed, intrigued not least by the promise of seeing live rats on stage. Sarah was there, giggling at the fact that the stage directions she joked she had put in to punish me had now rebounded on her - having spent six months training them, the director Peter Zadek had cut the poor rodents at the dress rehearsal. Apparently, the author had committed a serious error of dramaturgy - the brown rat is not actually capable of picking up a human foot. And the little bastards just wouldn't take direction." James Macdonald from The Guardian, 28 Feb 1999.

 

1999 Crave French premiere

Crave (Manque).

 

1999 Crave Canadian premiere

Crave in Edmonton with director Kevin Williamson and actors Ron Jenkins, Alex Dallas, Ardith Boxall and Keith Thome.  The English Suitcase Theatre.

The words are delivered with a rhythmic pulse as if director Kevin Williamson used a metronome in putting it together, increasing and decreasing the tempo, turning up the intensity (from review by Colin Maclean, Edmonton Sun, 16 Aug 1999).

 

1999 Cleansed (Gesäubert) in Germany

Sarah Kane Gesaubert Martin Kušej´directs a new version of Cleansed in Stuttgart, Germany just a year after the German premiere.  June- July 1999.

 

"Martin Kušej´s production at the Stuttgart Theatre opens on the actress playing Grace dangling above the dark stage after she has hanged herself - an icon of pain...

...When Tinker cuts off Carl´s hand with the circular saw, what happens is that his shirt sleeves are dipped in a little theatre blood on the side and pulled down a little. And when at the end Grace carries on Carl´s amputated penis, the transplanted organ which has been sewn on is not made as true to life as possible, but substituted by an inflatable puppet obtained from a ... sex-shop."

 

 

2000 Blasted French premiere

Blasted performed in French (Aléantis) at the Théâtre de la Colline, Paris. 25 April- 28 May.

The director was Louis Do de Lencquesaing and the actors were Eric Elmosnino, Pascal Greggory and Alexia Monduit.

 

2000 Phaedra´s Love (L´Amore Di Fedra) Italian premiere

Phaedra´s Love performance in Italian in Rome during Jun 2000.  The director was Marinella Anaclerio.

 

2000 4.48 Psychosis world premiere

4.48 Psychosis. The world premiere in London on 23 June 2000 at the Royal Court Theatre London.

The director was James Macdonald and the actors were Daniel Evans, Jo McInnes and Madeleine Potter.

Designed by Jeremy Herbert. lighting by Nigel J. Edwards and sound by Paul Arditti.

The stage picture consists of a white stage floor, a white-topped table, two chairs and three actors: one male and two female. The back wall of the stage is a forty-five degree wall of mirrors sloping upwards towards the audience, so the stage can be watched directly or can be observed from above through the mirrors. This arrangement allows the actors to sit, stand or even lie down flat and still be seen

After opening with probably the longest (deliberate) pause I have ever witnessed on stage, one person spoke without looking at anyone else and no one moved. The person being spoken to could easily be identified by the smallest subtle changes in her face. The 'scenes' were clearly played out even though no attempt was made to create 'characters' for either the doctor or the patient (from review by David Chadderton, dl reviews 8 Jul 2000).

Recently I worked with Jenette Smith who had assistant directed 4:48 at the Royal Court. It was interesting to hear that on the opening night of 4:48 after the production all the journalists came together in the bar. The discussiong: What Exactly Was It About? None of them wanted to say a bad thing - did they understand it...one wonders. Well apparently their joint conclusion and even now the most popular choice - 'a 70 minute suiside note'. Shows how much journalists know ... for me the play is enriching and doesnt have a sense of finality but a forward movement... (Jamie, from site discussion page, 4-3-2001).

 

 

2000 Renset (Cleansed) Danish premiere

Sarah Kane Renset

Cleansed in Denmark at the Turbinehallerne during Sept 2000.

The actors were Peter Gilsfort (Tinker), Mads M. Nielsen (Graham), Annika Johannessen (Grace), Henrik Jandorf (Rod), Thomas Bendixen (Carl), Thure Lindhardt (Robin) and Kett Lützhøft Jensen (Kvinde/woman).  The director was Jan Maagaard.

 

2000 Gier (Crave) in Germany

Sarah Kane Gier

Crave in the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, Germany with the premiere on 29 Sep 2000.

The director was Ute Rauwald, translation was by Marius von Mayenburg.  The actors were Edith Adam, Marek Harloff, Caroline Peters and Jörg Ratjen with music by Hardy Kayser and Martin Engelbach.

 

2000 Phaedra´s Love French premiere

Sarah Kane Phaedras Love

Phaedra´s Love in France.  Théâtre de la bastille, Paris 21 Sept 2000.

The actors were Claude Degliame (Phèdre), Thierry Frémont (Hippolyte), Lucien Marchal (Thésée), Marie Vialle (Strophe), Jean-Claude Bonnifait (Médecin/ le Prêtre).  The director was Renaud Cojo, and the translation was by Séverine Magois.

 

2000 Blasted (Ruínas) Portuguese premiere

Sarah Kane Ruinas

Blasted by Portugues group Artistas Unidos, who would also premiere Crave.

The actors were Carla Bolito (Cate), João Saboga (Ian) and Vítor Correia (soldier).

The translation was by Pedro Marques and the direction was by Carla Bolito, João Saboga and Vítor Correia.  26 Oct- 13 Dec 2000.

 

 

"O espectáculo recria admiravelmente o ambiente opressivo que o texto sugere, talvez ainda de forma mais radical que este" João Carneiro Expresso.

 

2000 Crave American premiere

Sarah Kane Crave with Debby Harry Axis Theatre, New York 1 Nov- 23 Dec 2000.

The Blondie Crave, with Debbie Harry as M acting alongside Kristin Dispaltro (C), Brian Barnhart (A) and David Guion (B). The director was Randy Sharp.

...four stunning performances. Deborah Harry, as M... is perfectly cast as the older woman: hard-edged but vulnerable, worn but still sensual. Her cross-over from rock star to actor is no gimmick: she inhabits her fragile character to the core. As her younger man, Guion is fine (as is Kristin DiSpaltro as the young woman, C). But it is Brian Barnhart, as A, the only character given a long monologue, who sticks in our memory for his forceful yet shattered performance. (Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp).

And this fatal lack of humor is only compounded by the play’s staging. Sharp sets the play in a disembodied nowhere space where the four actors clad in black stand in a line, while videos that play over the actors' heads set the piece firmly in New York City. While the play does not specify a setting, a director would be wise to give the piece a sense of location, as Vicky Featherstone did in the play’s first production when she put the four speakers in a mock talk-show environment (review by Ken Urban, nytheatre arhcive)

 

 

2000 Anéantis (Blasted) French premiere

Sarah Kane Aneantis Blasted (Anéantis) in Nanterre. With Camille  Lacôme, Jean-Baptiste  Marlot and Jean-Philippe  Ricci. The director was Christian  Benedetti. It was in the Théâtre Studio, Alfortville in June 2000, then the Théâtre-Studio in Nanterre-Amandiers in November 2000 and back in Alfortville in November and December.

 

2000 Crave Belgium premiere

Crave (Manque) in Brussels as part of a three-play tribute to Kane. It was in the Théâtre de la Vie from 9- 14 Jan. The director was Daniel Benion. He says:

"Il faut venir à cette pièce comme on entre dans un poème. Un poème à quatre voix qui vous est donné dans le plus simple appareil. Quatre comédiens face à vous pour la musique des mots, leurs rythmes et leurs entrelacs. Alors, très vite il est question d'amour. Là aussi, dans ce qu'il a de plus simple, mais de plus dur aussi: l'expression du besoin fondamental de l'autre. Ces quatre fils solitaires se nouent sous nos yeux pour nous emmener au coeur de chacun. "

 

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