Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis

by Glenn D'Cruz

Overview

"Everything passes/Everything perishes/Everything palls" – 4.48 Psychosis

How on earth do you award aesthetic points to a 75-minute suicide note? The question comes from a review of 4.48 Psychosis’ inaugural production, the year after Sarah Kane took her own life, but this book explores the ways in which it misses the point. Kane’s final play is much more than a bizarre farewell to mortality. It’s a work best understood by approaching it first and foremost as theatre – as a singular component in a theatrical assemblage of bodies, voices, light and energy. The play finds an unexpectedly close fit in the established traditions of modern drama and the practices of postdramatic theatre.

Glenn D’Cruz explores this theatrical angle through a number of exemplary professional and student productions with a focus on the staging of the play by the Belarus Free Theatre (2005) and Melbourne’s Red Stitch Theatre (2007).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781351599375
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/07/2018
Series:	ISSN
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	100
File size:	625 KB

About the Author

Glenn D’Cruz teaches Drama and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia.

Table of Contents

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Contextualising 4.48 Psychosis: 'Everybody loves a dead girl' – Sarah Kane as innovator and icon

Chapter 2: Reading 4.48 Psychosis: The flaw in love (and psychiatry)

Chapter 3: Theorising 4.48 Psychosis: 4.48 Psychosis as postdramatic theatre

Chapter 4: Teaching 4.48 Psychosis: Performance and pedagogy

Chapter 5: Performing 4.48 Psychosis: From Minsk to Melbourne

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"D’Cruz offers a compelling argument for the theatrical possibilities of the play, its place in the field of postdramatic theatre, and its ability to resonate with audiences twenty years after its first performance. Succinct and engaging, this short book [...] is a useful source for educators teaching Kane’s work, or theatre practitioners bravely considering the challenge of producing it."

Sarah Peters, Flinders University, Australia, in Australasian Drama Studies

From the Publisher