Sarah Kane And Her Plays:Theatrical Exploration Of Depression

Sarah Kane and her work have been frequently discussed in light of "in-yer-face"theatre,as her plays prominently feature explicit images of violence and sex.While some critics have spotted the political and social messages inherent in her depictions of violence,few have attempted to expound on them,and even fewer have analyzed them through a biographical approach.Based on a revived biographical model,this thesis seeks to explore how social constructions and society's oppressive nature are revealed in Kane's work through images of depression and staging of other relevant mental illnesses in theatre.Sarah Kane had been plagued by depression for a long time,and eventually committed suicide.She tried to use the images of depression in her work to wake people's body consciousness and present a different reality.Images of fragmentation abound in her plays,such as the incongruity between body and mind;the illogical,broken,and incoherent narratives;and the confused or transgressed identity which knows no boundary.These symptoms of depression which are manifested on the individuals extend beyond themselves towards the outside world,pointing to a larger problem inherent in the broader social context,namely,violence.Sarah Kane lashes against the ugliness of violence,and condemns it as the fountainhead of all other social problems.Among various forms of violence,war,its ultimate epitome,is severely criticized by Sarah Kane in her plays.In addition,the hypocrisy and failure of the current mental health system contribute to the worsening of depression and further fragmentation and suppression of individual's identity.What's more,in an age where faith is generally lost,advanced technology has been heightened to a status that can be compared to the divine authority.But it not only fails in solving the fundamental questions of humanity,but also serves as an accomplice in deepening the mental damages caused by violence and psychiatry.Having witnessed all the trauma caused by the society,Kane seeks to make a conscious effort to revive people's body consciousness and clarity through the vehicle of theatre.Like Antonin Artaud,she believes that theatre should not be confined within the shackles of realism.Instead,it should be invested with a primitive force to liberate the human spirit and reveal the truth.Meanwhile,Kane's theatre has inherited the spiritual core of tragedy that has existed from the ancient times and has long been addressing the issue of mental afflictions.Depression has revealed another dimension of truth and reality to Kane,and she meant to use theatre as the arena to present the truth she saw and make a difference.