Highly controversial in its time, Blasted is British author Sarah Kane's first play. It premiered in London at the Royal Court Theatre. It has many shocking and rather gruesome elements, including rape, cannibalism, and suicide, elements which shocked critics at the time of its premiere.
Inspired by the war in Bosnia that was ongoing during Kane's writing process, the plot follows Ian, an abusive and filthy-minded journalist, and innocent, simple-minded Cate, as they spend the night together in a hotel room in Leeds. It is later revealed that there is a war going on outside when a bomb detonates and a hole is "blasted" in the wall, exposing them to the dangers of the war. Throughout the play, the violence between Ian and Cate in their relationship is compared with the violence of the war going on outside.
Upon its premiere, the play received harsh criticism. Even now, audiences and theatre-makers alike try to sift through the play's gruesomeness to determine whether these elements are gratuitous or necessary. Many of Sarah Kane's contemporaries, however, such as Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill, saw the play as innovative, important, and politically vital. Kane's work, and this play in particular, have been labeled as part of a movement known as "in-yer-face theatre."
Contemporary critics look at the play with the clarity of retrospect, and see its value as a piece of political theater and an attempt to theatricalize the brutality of the world. The critic Ken Urban writes that, "for Kane, hell is not metaphysical: it is hyperreal, reality magnified."
