Blasted is the first play by the British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London.
Synopsis:
The play is set in an expensive hotel room in Leeds. Ian, a foul-mouthed middle-aged tabloid journalist has brought a young woman, Cate, to the room for the night. Cate is much younger than Ian, emotionally fragile, and seemingly intellectually simple.
Throughout Scene 1, Ian tries to seduce Cate, but she resists. All the while, Ian proudly parades his misogyny, racism, and homophobia. The scene ends with the sound of spring rain.
Scene 2 begins the next morning. Ian engages in frottage with Cate during one of her fits. Afterward, Cate performs oral sex on Ian, biting him. Cate retires to the bathroom. A soldier unexpectedly enters the room brandishing a gun and finds Cate has escaped through the bathroom window. The hotel room is then struck by a mortar bomb, and the scene ends with the sound of summer rain.
In Scene 3, the hotel room is in ruins; the bomb has blasted a hole in the wall. The soldier and Ian begin to talk, and it is gradually revealed that the hotel is located in the midst of a brutal war. The soldier tells Ian about appalling atrocities that he has witnessed and taken part in, involving rape, torture, and genocide, and says he has done everything as an act of revenge for the murder of his girlfriend. He then rapes Ian and sucks out his eyes. The scene ends with the sound of autumn rain.
In Scene 4, Ian lies blinded next to the soldier, who has committed suicide. Cate returns, describing the city being overrun by soldiers, and bringing with her a baby that she has rescued. The baby dies, and she buries it in a hole in the floorboards and leaves, but not before arguing with Ian about the utility or futility of praying during a burial. The scene ends with the sound of heavy winter rain.
Scene 5 consists of a series of brief images, showing Ian crying, masturbating and even hugging the dead soldier for comfort as he starves in the ruined room. Eventually, he crawls into the hole with the dead baby and eats it. The stage direction then reads that Ian dies. It starts raining, and Ian says "Shit". Cate returns, bringing sausage and gin. The blood seeping down her legs implies that she has paid for this by having sex with the soldiers outside. She eats and hand-feeds the rest of her meal to Ian, who says: "Thank you."
The Play:
Director: Segun M. Olabode.
This is in Partial Fulfilment of THA 783 Advanced Studies in Directing. Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
My Personal Comments:
Well, first of all unfortunately we have heavenly rains this time because Sarah committed suicide and passed away in 1999 after a sudden attack of depression and anxiety.
There are fascists but also more fascists, and even the most fascists, well yes of course.
Questioning rape, sexual hunger, and perversion in a society that becomes subject to sexual and pornographic content, promotions, commercials, and material and especially by the so-called allegedly 'leftist' mainstream media every single day.
What a hypocrisy.
Sexual appetite is being flattered by all kinds of instruments of the fascist establishment while people are dealing with a lot of taboos, religious distractions, native traditions, and relative interpretations of dynamic moral values. changing from society to society, country to country, and nation to nation.
Women did not cover their breasts in ancient India for instance so were they immoral and outrageous people?
Oh Really?
What a sinister fraud.
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