#her work as bleak or 'gloomy'; particularly in the case of Phaedra's Love‚ which she referred to as her 'comedy'. it can feel jarring‚ to

[mariocki]

Doctor: There's nothing wrong with him medically.

Phaedra: Medically?

Doctor: He's just very unpleasant. And therefore incurable. I'm sorry.

Phaedra: I don't know what to do.

Doctor: Get over him.

-

Sarah Kane, Phaedra's Love (1996)

#100plays #Phaedra's love #sarah kane #1996 #modern drama #modern theatre #theatre quotes #phaedra #most critical writing on Kane focuses on the darkness; on the horror and violence in her plays. it's there of course‚ and it's significant #and worthy of study. but i think too easily it obscures the lightness; Kane was‚ as Harold Pinter said at her memorial‚ a poet‚ and her #ability to use economical and concise dialogue to devastating effect has a sort of beauty to it. Kane herself rejected the popular view of #her work as bleak or 'gloomy'; particularly in the case of Phaedra's Love‚ which she referred to as her 'comedy'. it can feel jarring‚ to #hear the word comedy applied to a play which ends in such grotesque horror and spectacular violence‚ but in the manner of predecessors like #Peter Nichols or Edward Bond (Bond was a great champion and supporter of Kane's work) she mines the unthinkable and the unspeakable for #traces of jet black humour. how else does one cope with the inexhaustible horror of it all? you have to laugh. #brutalist in theme‚ minimalist in design and elegant in construction‚ Phaedra is a play that defies any simple analysis or categorization #it is a comedy just as it is a tragedy just as it is grand guignol for the postmodern age