Revelation or Damnation? Depictions of Violence in Sarah Kanes Theatre - Lea Jasmin Gutscher Kartoniert (TB)

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 rat her 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.