Sarah Kane’s shocking play Blasted is Unifaun’s next theatrical appointment at St James Cavalier in Valletta.
Written in 1995, Blasted was inspired by the war in Bosnia and it depicts the ravages of war and the disintegration of society.
Initially vilified by the media, with The Daily Mail going as far as describing it as a “disgusting feast of filth”, the perception soon changed with Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, among others, personally congratulating Kane for her work.
Because of its explicit scenes of horror, most critics failed to see that what was really disturbing was the play’s radical structure, in which a first half set in a Leeds hotel room suddenly explodes into a war zone reminiscent of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, although Bosnia is never mentioned.
While the first half draws you into a recognisably naturalistic play, the second half has been variously described as a “nightmare” or “metaphorical”. The stage directions clearly indicate that the character of Ian continues to speak even after “he dies with relief”.
Blasted is an example of what Kane called “experiential theatre”, and aims to convey the sudden shock of war by means of a sudden shocking change in form and to reproduce the dislocation of war by means of a dislocation of plot.
This is also achieved partly by the way that objects change their symbolic meaning as the play progresses. For instance, Cate refuses to eat a bacon sandwich or drink alcohol at the beginning, but in the last scene we see her eating sausage and drinking gin, which she has obtained from prostituting herself.
Directed by Californian director Dave Barton, the cast will be made up of Bryan Jennings, Jo Caruana and Andrew Galea.
Jennings is also Californian and acted in the play under Barton when it was staged in California. Caruana is one of Malta’s emerging stars, having played the role of Jill Mason in Equus last November. Galea will be making his debut in a main role on the local theatre scene after beating off stiff competition. Barton will also be leading a masterclass in acting for local artists during his stay.
The play will run for two weekends at St James Cavalier, starting on Friday.