As soon as I discovered that The Other Room were programming Sarah Kane’s infamous debut in their first season I knew I had to be a part of it. Very rarely does a piece of new writing cause so much uproar. Even more rarely does a new play end up being national news discussed not just in a few paragraphs in the stage section, but alongside major world events.
Arguably it was some of these major world events that inspired Kane to experiment so boldly with dramatic form, giving Blasted its true uniqueness. Originally Kane had been writing a play about a dysfunctional relationship that took place in a hotel room when one day she saw coverage of the Bosnian War on the news – ‘I thought this is absolutely terrible and I’m writing this ridiculous play about two people in a room.’ She searched for the link between a ‘common rape in a Leeds hotel room and what’s happening in Bosnia,’ finally concluding ‘one is the seed and the other is the tree.’
She fully believed ‘the seeds of full-scale war can always be found in peace-time civilisation.’ All the ingredients for violence can be found in the plays seemingly naturalistic first scene. From the character of Ian, a jaded journalist, dying of lung cancer, we hear a tirade of racist and homophobic abuse. He constantly distances himself from ‘the other’, seeing anyone not alike to himself as dangerous and worthy only of death. Couple this with the huge power imbalance between him and his ex-girlfriend Cate and you see all the potential for a tyrant.
Throughout the rehearsal process it was almost impossible to look at the news without seeing a story that felt somehow related to the play. From the high profile Ched Evans rape case to the racist behaviour of Chelsea football fans in Paris, everywhere I could see reflections of Blasted. Perhaps it is this that makes the play so very relevant 20 years after it premiere. Kane uses timeless themes in the work, themes which have been with humanity from the beginning of consciousness – the fear of difference, gender imbalance, the abuse of power and the basic need for human connection. There are one or two details which root Blasted firmly in 1995, but this overwhelming sense of relevance demanded we set our production in contemporary times.
For some, even now, the depictions of graphic violence in the play seem far-fetched with no bearing to reality. Sadly this is not the case, Kane used real news stories as a basis for the on stage action. Even if you yourself have never witnessed true violence you would not have to go far, even in peaceful Cardiff to find someone for whom these events were all too real.
Alongside Blasted I have been attending Oasis Refugee Centre in Splott, helping to deliver drama workshops to people from all over the world. Some of the men and women who use this fantastic facility have fled from the most war torn countries. Others have been refugees for nearly twenty years, wandering from place to place hoping to find safety and somewhere they can call home.
Throughout the workshops one theme comes up time and again, every single one of these inspirational people has said that they love Wales. Wales is welcoming, Welsh people are friendly, will make time for anyone and never look at you as though you are a waste of time. Although this is obviously heart-warming to hear I believe it makes it even more important to put plays like Blasted on the Welsh stage. When everything around you is seemingly good, it is all too easy to turn a blind eye to what is going on elsewhere.
On a fragment of a wall that remains in Gaza, graffiti artist Bansky has left this powerful message – ‘If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful – we don’t remain neutral’.
Kane hoped to ‘put people through an intense experience. Maybe in some small way from that you can change things.’ When there are still so many of the same lessons to be learnt I hope that watching, or rather experiencing, Blasted will cause some of our audience members to fully open their eyes to the world around them. Rather than switching the news off they will, once in a while, really see the ‘social sickness’ Kane believed we are suffering from. And perhaps more importantly they will also be able to see the seeds of hope and forgiveness that come from real human connection.
Assistant director Chelsey Gillard discusses the play and the creative process
Blasted is showing at The Other Room until March 7.
Tickets are available from: www.otherroomtheatre.com
You can also see Chelsey’s audio-visual installation based on her experiences at Oasis in The Other Room foyer.