"Blasted"

1995 Kane, Sarah (1971-1999). “Blasted.” Frontline Intelligence 2: New Plays for the Nineties (London: Methuen Drama, 1995), 1-50, with a brief Afterword on 51. Rpt. in Blasted and Phaedra’s Love (London: Methuen Drama, 1996), 1-58; in her Complete Plays: Blasted Phaedra’s Love Cleansed Crave 4.48 Psychosis Skin (London: Methuen Drama, 2001), 1-61. This version of the play incorporates revisions made shortly before the author’s death. Published separately as Blasted. London: Methuen Drama, 2002. NjR, PSt

The play, which was almost universally panned when first performed, is now considered to have been an important contribution to British theatre. It begins with a man and a much younger woman entering an expensive hotel room in Leeds. Over five scenes a soldier enters the room, the woman has escaped through the bathroom, the room is hit by a mortar bomb, the soldier rapes and blinds the man and later commits suicide, and much more violence follows. It was first performed at the Royal Court Upstairs, London, January 12, 1995. Significant revivals and restagings too place at the Royal Court Downstairs in 2001, the Queen’s Hotel in Leeds in 2008, the Soho Rep in New York City in 2008, the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 2010, and the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2015. Female author.