With her controversial stage art the young playwright Sarah Kane broke new dramaturgic ground
and made a lasting impression that changed British drama forever. Even though it is part of the
canon covering post-war drama Kane s work has often met with misunderstanding and fierce
criticism due to the uncountable representations of atrocities. How can we make sense of Kane s
seemingly crude and bleak theatre? Mainly concentrating on the play Cleansed the author
examines the nature of violence in Kane s writing. What purpose does it serve? Is it simply
employed for its shock value? Or is it rather used as a metaphor? Kane herself considered her
third full-length play as a play about love. In suggesting a figurative reading of the late
playwright s texts the author shows how Kane embraces violence as a metaphor of the various
sufferings both love and life perpetrate upon the human being. Locked beneath the revolting
cruelties we can find a vivid theatricality powerful images and a unique rhythm and sound of
language.
