On The Gender And Power In Sarah Kane’s "In-yer-face Theatre" Plays

Sarah Kane (1971-1999) is the leading figure of "In-Yer-Face Theatre" wave ofthe British theatre in the1990s. In the short but splendid writing span, she contributesfive astonishing plays to the world. They are Blasted (1995), Phaedra’s Love (1996),Cleansed (1998), Crave (1998) and4.48Psychosis (1999). Characterized byeconomical language, fierce actions, eccentric characters and absurd plots, her firstthree plays not only sharply manifested the creating style of "In-Yer-Face Theatre",but deeply shocked the British theatre which was then in a state of genteel decline.In her "In-Yer-Face Theatre" plays, Kane visually presents the images of war,violence, death, sexual abuse, drug addiction and nerve breakdown on the stage,which efficiently blurs the line between life and theatre. In this way, the audiences areforced to face and experience the horror and cruelty wrapped in the plays. However,the extreme exposure of dark social problems is not the initial concern of theplaywright. On the contrary, the unstoppable quest for love, truth, hope andredemption in the brutal circumstances is the ultimate keynote of Kane’s "In-Yer-FaceTheatre" plays.On account of the striking and accurate depiction of extreme scenes spreading inKane’s drama, the academics are liable to pay their special attention to the topics likewar, violence or sexual abuse, yet the study from the perspective of gender and poweris relatively less conducted. Therefore, based on the gender theory and MichelFoucault’s theory about power, this thesis aims to tease out the dynamic transformingprocess of the relation between gender and power in Kane’s Blasted, Phaedra’s Loveand Cleansed, so as to unveil the playwright’s concerns for the gender issue and hereffort to deconstruct the gender binary opposition.This thesis consists of five parts. The introductory part introduces thebackground information, the approaches, the significance of this thesis, as well as thecurrent study on Sarah Kane both at home and abroad. In addition, the gender theoryand Foucault’s theory about power are also introduced, which function as thetheoretical support for further analysis. Chapter One elaborates the inferior situation of women, who are labeled as thesecond sex in the patriarchal society. The inferior status is unfolded in two aspects.First, taking Cate and Col in Blasted as examples, women are the most direct victimsof sexual violence, especially rape and rape threats. Imposed by men, this violentthreat causes dual damage to women’s body and spirit, and even brings death to them.By this violent means, men take control over women. Women, as the insulted andhumiliated subject, have been degraded into a subordinate status. Second, in aphysically confined space created by Kane, the female characters, both Strophe inPhaedra’s Love, who is raped and killed by her step-father in the witness of the crowdand the Woman in Cleansed who is constantly gazed by Tinker through a peep-showbooth are in a helpless state of being gazed or monitored by men. In this circumstance,the visibility of the irresistible women unconsciously assures the presence andcontinuity of men’s power, and the imbalanced state of power between men andwomen is emerged.Chapter Two mainly discusses the existential crisis that men have encountered.As the representatives of Kane’s male protagonists, Ian in Blasted, Hippolytus inPhaedra’s Love and Tinker in Cleansed not only suffer from physical pain andpsychological nihilism, but are tortured by the confrontational relation with othermales which further deepens their dilemma. As a result, due to the internal andexternal threats, the absoluteness of males’ power is debilitated. Meanwhile, with theprogress of plots, the fragility of men, as well as their craving for hope, truth and loveis gradually surfaced. This can be considered as a turning point in the power relationbetween men and women. Meanwhile, it also provides possibility for the illustrationof the spiritual redemption in the next chapter.Chapter Three focuses on the shift of power between men and women. Based onthe fact that men are stuck in the existential crisis, women begin to make theirpowerful appearance on Kane’s stage. Among her female characters, Cate in Blastedis the most resistant one. Taking the appearance of naivety, Cate is an intelligent andflexible woman who constantly challenges Ian’s sexual abuse and even retaliatesagainst him for his prejudices towards women, gay and minorities with her verbal language and physical resistance. Furthermore, Cate, together with Phaedra inPhaedra’s Love, Grace and the Woman in Cleansed boldly undertake theresponsibility of redemption in the extreme circumstances through selling their bodies,committing suicide and other self-sacrificing ways to rescue men from their materialand mental crisis to achieve a spiritual redemption. This redemption displays theelevation of women’s power and reflects the changeable power relations betweenmale and female.The last part is Conclusion. Grounded on the gender theory and Foucault’stheory about power, this thesis analyzes the dynamic transforming process of therelation between gender and power in Sarah Kane’s "In-Yer-Face Theatre" plays,Blasted, Phaedra’s Love and Cleansed. It comes to the conclusion that, due to thesociality of gender and flexibility of power, the power relation between men andwomen is constantly deconstructed, then reconstructed with the changeable socialrealities. In Kane’s work, men’s power is frequently threatened during their existentialcrisis and their human fragility is gradually emerged. While women, the once victims,undertake the responsibility of redemption and further defuse men’s crisis. As a result,both men and women achieve more integrated humanity and richer life experience inthe battlefield of power. These three "In-Yer-Face theatre" plays give a highlight toKane’s concern on the issue of gender, and her effort to deconstruct the gender binaryopposition.