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When I first read Blasted, I knew immediately that I wanted to present it at GableStage. It took three long years to secure the rights from the British agents that represent Sarah Kane's estate -- because they wanted a New York Production first. That finally took place last season at Soho Rep -- where it was well received by critics and audiences. Although it has been successfully produced worldwide - ours is only the second professional production in the United States.
We have presented 63 plays at GableStage, but this is only the second time I've elected to include a Director's Note. Why? Because I believe that while Blasted is one of the most important plays of the last half-century, its controversial nature and its innovative structure have often overwhelmed and obscured the value of the play and the playwright.
The merits of the piece were immediately recognized by such notable playwrights as Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill and Edward Bond, despite the firestorm of critical hostility that erupted at the time of its premiere in 1995. The 2001 revival in England sparked a critical re-evaluation, and Blasted has since been hailed as a landmark play of post-war British theatre.
Because Sarah Kane was only 23 years old - and because Blasted was her first play - it was initially dismissed by some as an anarchistic work by an angry young woman determined only to shock. This is far from the truth. The radical structure of Blasted was carefully crafted. Kane was aware that she was breaking traditional rules, and she deliberately sought to create an innovative, and less restrictive, form for her play. She revised it more than twenty times before its first production, stripping away the long monologues of the early drafts piece by piece, constantly honing the dialogue to razor-sharp brevity.
Blasted has the most vivid and unforgettable imagery of any play I have directed. When an explosion in the play blows the set apart - it also marks a division between social realism and surrealism, which ultimately slides into expressionism.
The idea at the heart of the play, that our civilized world can be ripped apart and descend into barbarism in a matter of seconds, is even more relevant today than when the play was first produced.
Joseph Adler
Producing Artistic Director
GableStage
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