Blasted
Blasted by Sarah Kane (2005) was a theatre production by Bergen Prosjektteater (BPT). The production was based on the play by Sarah Kane. It was performed in the venue Lille Scene, The National Stage.
Thorleif Linhave Bamle directed it.
Information
(Objekt ID 15473)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | December 3, 2005 |
| Produced by | Bergen Prosjektteater |
| Coproducers | The National Stage |
| Based on | Blasted by Sarah Kane |
| Audience | Adults |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Keywords | Theatre, Drama |
| Running period | December 3, 2005 — December 17, 2005 |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | No |
Blasted was the first play Sarah Kane wrote. It had its world premiere in England in 1995. Blasted, with its many meanings, ("damned", "bombed" and "in hell", contains parallels between the Bosnia war and the violent reality of England.
In Blasted by Sarah Kane, produced by Bergen Prosjektteater (BPT), the audience meets the middle-aged tabloid journalist Ian, who is dying from lung cancer.
He invites a girl, Cate, to his hotel room, because he needs being cheered up. As soon as they have entered the room he starts abusing her, physically and mentally. All of a sudden a soldier bursts inn and the room is blasted by a bomb. This starts a war around and inside the room. Cate flees while the soldier tells Ian about the hell of war. The soldier rapes and tortures Ian before killing himself. Cate returns with a baby she has been given by the war victims outside. The child dies and Ian tries to eat it. Eventually, Ian attempts to hide beneath the floorboards in the room, while Cate sits on the bed, bleeding from her nether regions.
Blasted met strong criticism and enormous attention after its world premiere. It was described as "meretricious rubbish" and accused of lacking artistic quality. The play led to expansive debates, and to a large degree, it was condemned in England. Despite of this, Blasted soon was staged all around Europe, but it hadn't been performed in Norway before the production by Bergen Prosjektteater.
SOURCES:
The National Stage, Bergen, dns.no, 27.06.2011, http://www.dns.no/prog.asp?id=19
Bergen Prosjektteater, material transferred to Sceneweb 26.10.2008.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Sarah Kane | – Playwright |
| Thorleif Linhave Bamle | – Translation |
| Thorleif Linhave Bamle | – Direction |
| Andreas Segrov | – Music |
| Matias Juklestad Monsen | – Music |
| Thord Foss | – Visual design (Design programblad) |
| Aslak Helgesen | – Visual design (Design plakat) |
| Fredrik Sund | – Stage design |
| Trygve Trohaug | – Stage design |
| Fredrik Sund | – Costume design |
| Trygve Trohaug | – Costume design |
| Aslak Helgesen | – Video/Film |
| Aleksander Nordass | – Video/Film (Musikkvideo) |
| Robert M. Axelsen | – Sound |
| Arne Kambestad | – Lighting design |
| Ingrid Overå | – Light |
| David Allen | – Actor (Soldaten) |
| Håkon Ramstad | – Actor (Ian) |
| Elin Skaar | – Actor (Cate) |
| Ellen Marie Tornes | – Props |
| Carl Mehl | – Stage manager |
| Linn Pedersen | – Photo |
| Robert M. Axelsen | – Sound technician |
| Lone I. Lægreid | – Prompter |
| Ida Hevrøy | – Producer |
| Kaja Elise Olsen | – Producer |
| Magnus Sivertsen Sørvig | – Production assistant |
| December 3, 2005 – Lille Scene, The National Stage | National premiere, Norway |
Ann Christensen, Aftenposten.no 18.07.2005:
"The National Stage and Bergen Prosjektteater will collaborate in staging Kane’s debut play Blasted in December. The play contains scenes of sex, violence and cannibalism, and was fiercely criticised, called despicable and meretricious rubbish and the playwright was heralded as an enemy of community when it was first performed in 1995. Head of The National Stage, Morten Borgersen, regards Sarah Kane as a poet, who is very competent linguistically and who writes compressed stories – with lots of anger.
- But it is the kind of anger one can understand due to her being a human who was desperate to figure her life out, hospitalised several times. I think she pinpoints something that will resonate in a young audience, Borgersen says."