Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….

Trauma and Depression in

Contemporary British Theatre:
A Study in Sarah Kane's 4.48
Psychosis

Assistant Lecturer
Hind Sabah Bilal
Department of English/ Faculty of Education/University of Kufa
hinds.bilal@uokufa.edu.iq

Journal of Education College for Women 41 No. 25 – 13th year :2019

Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….

Journal of Education College for Women 42 No. 25 – 13th year :2019

Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….

Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British

Theatre: A Study in Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis

Assistant Lecturer
Hind Sabah Bilal
Department of English/ Faculty of Education/University of Kufa
hinds.bilal@uokufa.edu.iq

Abstract: even with extreme occasions.

This paper tackles the issue of using Significantly, this research highlights the
Contemporary British Theatre to express fact that contemporary drama addresses
themes of Trauma and Depression complex issues of real life situations and
dramatized in the final work of Sarah that through drama, people of all ages
Kane's 4.48 Psychosis. could gain a sense of responsibility
Trauma theories are tackled to understand greater than oneself.
the meaning of trauma and how to Keywords: depression, trauma, British
consider certain states as traumatic and/or theatre, trauma theory, suicide.
depressive conditions. It is both a 1. Introduction
psychological and social study Trauma has started to take position
demonstrated by the young Kane whose conspicuously on the British stage as a
final play is considered a reflection to her reaction to wars and ruinous events in the
final days ending in dramatic suicide. last three decades. Taking this spate of
The paper also examines trauma in British interest in trauma on British stage as a
theatre and Sarah Kane’s personal starting point, this study examines Sarah
traumatic state, trauma theories and Kane’s play, 4.48 Psychosis, in which
traumatic analysis of 4.48 Psychosis. The trauma appears as a result of modern
focal worry of this paper is to bring up trauma theories. The central concern of
issues about trauma experience and its the study is to pose questions about the
portrayal just as the capacity of theater issues between trauma experience and its

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Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
representation as well as the function of
theatre. Furthermore, the aim of the
current study is a literary analysis of
Kane's last play 4.48 Psychosis.
Kane, one of the most outstanding
playwrights of British modern drama and
an author of in-year-face theatre,
committed suicide shortly after putting the
finishing touches to the play. Because of
that, 4.48 Psychosis is often seen and
interpreted by the theatre public in the
context of her death and mental illness; in
other words, a suicide note. However in
this research, the concept of trauma will
be discussed in theater and especially in
the 4:48 Psychosis play by Sarah Kane.
2. Trauma Theories:
Trauma is composed of two separate
phenomena which are notwithstanding
correlated. The first, sexual assault, is not
traumatic at the time of its occurrence as
it cannot be understood by a person who
is not sexually mature enough to be aware
of the experience; the second is another
event, which is not necessarily shocking in
its content, but which moves the memory
of the original event. Based on his early
theory of trauma to child sexual abuse,
Freud assumes that abuse does not mean
child abuse when it occurs, but the
Journal of Education College for Women
memory of the abuse arises when the
victim understands the meaning of
experience and faces it again later in life.
Trauma, then, is constituted by dialectic
between two events which is based on
comprehending the nature of the original
event through transient delay or latent
period. According to Freud and Breuer,
unlike conscious recollections, those
repressed and forgotten experiences
persist in the unconscious and return in
the form of psychosomatic symptoms,
repetitive behaviors or other intrusive
thoughts. By the 1890s Freud, Breuer and
Janet all conclude that hysteria is caused
by psychological trauma and the altered
state of consciousness resulting from
intolerable events. This most direct mental
response to such extreme traumatic
experience is called ‘dissociation’ by
Janet and ‘double consciousness's’ by
Freud and Breuer (Freud, 1999: 284).
The daily overburden of trauma in
contemporary media is brought to the
audience almost simultaneously to the
actual event. Today, reporters and camera
teams besiege the scenes of train and
plane crashes, suicide bombings or school
bombings shortly after their occurrence.
The public is often shocked by the
impressions by the multiple channels of
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information as newspapers, radio,
television or the internet. General interest
of media hardly involves stripping the
constant effects of such traumatic
experiences. So, the media soon lose
interest if new traumatic events occur.
There are many examples of this
exploitation of trauma, the latest being
kassandra, who was imprisoned in the
gully of a 14-year-old boy. After reporting
a week about victim and perpetrator the
topic had quickly neglected and the
pictures of the tsunami victims in the
Pacific Ocean spread into the centre of
media attention. This daily emergence of
individual and collective traumatic
experiences prompts scientists to consider
trauma as a fundamental experience for
the people of the twentieth century
(kaplan.2005:24), which can undoubtedly
be identical to the beginning of the
twenty-first century as well. Some other
researchers, fortunate enough, speak of a
culture of trauma to precisely describe
contemporary culture's obsession with
subjects of trauma (Wald, 2007: 2).
While media often leave its audience
stranded with the horrible images of
traumatic events it is up to literature,
movies and art to create a whole picture
of the phenomena of trauma. Especially
Journal of Education College for Women
incidents that might directly seem to miss
the potential of a traumatic experience or
appear to be too frequent are adopted by
these modes of representation. Therefore,
this paper deals with the play 4:48
psychosis by Sarah Kane, a British
playwright.
In Sarah Kane’s theatre, aggression,
violence and traumas are invasive and all
overpowering elements. Their powerful
imagery cannot and will not be contained
and tackled by conventional dramatic
structures. Beginning with Blasted and
ending with 4.48 psychosis, and
performing such plays of realistic social
representation, personalism and
conspiracy to poetry, fragmentation, lack
of personality, and inconsistent monologue
show the corrosion of a world marred by
violence and the disintegration of an
individual's traumatized psyche.
This study focuses on Sarah Kane's
theatre as a means of exploring human
aggression and its self-perception as a
painful shock and self-depression. It also
discusses the author's choices regarding
the dramatic structures that she uses to
reflect stories of aggression and
depression. On the basis of traumatic
psychological theories, the researcher
points out that Kane is using her theatre
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to organize traumatic events and prepare
her for the circumstances, to victimize and
eventually force viewers to reorganize
their beliefs, change their values and way
of thinking. Otherwise, she presents to the
public an excruciating and amazing path
to post-traumatic growth.
At the beginning of each shock, according
to Sigmund Freud, there is an event that
confronts psyche with too much painful
and unpleasant amount of information in a
short period of time. The psyche is
unable to handle this amount of new
information in such a short period and in a
common manner, which results in an
energetic disequilibrium within the person
(Freud, 1999: 284). What kind of event
confronts somebody with an insuperable
amount of information depends on the
individual sensitivity of the person (Breuer,
2004: 9). Thus, what makes a traumatic
event different from any other event is the
incapability of the psyche to process the
ongoing consciously situation according to
common strategies. This notion of the
traumatic event concentrating on a community. They shatter the construction
neurological explanation for the disruption
within the human psyche points at Freud’s
medical background. Freud who exercised
as a doctor was especially concerned with
the mental disease of hysteria. Based on
Journal of Education College for Women
his observations and documentations of
hysteric patients, Freud claimed that the
etiology of neurosis was one or more
sexual traumas during childhood. Freud
then dispensed with this theory known as
the seduction theory and concluded that
there was no difference between being a
real event or a childhood fantasy which
functioned as the origin of the trauma
(Freud, 1999: 152). Caruth points out
when she describes that a traumatic event
“takes place too soon, too suddenly, too
unexpectedly, to be fully grasped by
consciousness” (Caruth, 1996: 101).
Judith Herman offers a modified
explanation for the singularity of a
traumatic experience. Her argumentation
presents a more psychological approach
and gives the traumatic event the ability to
overwhelm the normal human adaption of
life (Suleiman, 2008: 276). Furthermore,
she asserts that,
“Traumatic events call into question basic
human relationships. They breach
attachments of family, friendship, love and
of self that is formed and sustained in
relation to others. They undermine the
belief systems that give meaning to
human experience. They violate the
victim’s faith in a natural or divine order
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and cast the victim into a state of force of an event lies within the individual
existential crisis.” (Herman, 2001: 51). sensitivity, making it unnecessary for an
Compared to Freud Herman, this suggests event to be uncommon.
a reappraisal of personal relationships and The evolution of trauma theory in literary
an individual's self-understanding within criticism may be understood in terms of
the world. Hence traumatic events the dynamic psychological definitions of
destabilize the individual and leave it in a trauma, also, because the philosophical
void unable to handle and assess the theory, rhetorical, and social
experience. This allows an individual to considerations that square measure a
conclude that nothing is as it used to be. part of the study of trauma in literature
The current clinical of trauma requires that and society. The attraction of the classic
the event be unfamiliar. Laura brown, who model exists within the pairing of biological
works as a professional psychiatrist, offers science theories relating to the processes
the opposite perspective in her article, not of the mind and memory along with
out of scope.: One Feminist Perspective semiotical theories relating to the
on Psychic Trauma’ she criticizes the processes of language, associations, and
criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical symbolization. But if the psychological
Manual’ (DSM III) for a traumatic event basis of trauma is re-examined, the
within the definition of post-traumatic classical model does not conform to the
stress disorder (PTSD). Based on the laws of structural and post-structural
clinical definition common events, disciplines. This means that this approach
regardless of their individual impact cannot will work only if the psychological definition
be traumatic. But many events, which of trauma conforms to a certain theoretical
have the effect of being traumatic, are far prescription derived from Freud to
from being unfamiliar. As Brown states in prescribe traumatic experience as a pre-
her article “as many as a third of all girls linguistic event that leads universal
are sexually abused prior to the age of dissociation. In many ways, it is found that
sixteen. “Incest wasn’t unusual, wasn’t the classic model of a clear marriage
‘outside the range of human experience.’” between the psychological laws that
(Brown, 1995: 101). This goes together govern the function of trauma and the
with Freud’s notion that the traumatic

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Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
semiotic laws that govern the meaning of
language.
3. Trauma in British Theatre:
Generally, the 1990s has been considered
to be one of the most exciting English
theater decades since John Osborne's
premiere Look Back in Anger (1956).
Playwrights such as Martin Crimp, Sarah
Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Martin McDonough
and Anthony Neilson predicted
beginning of a new theatrical renaissance.
In following their new dramas, in the
1990s the British theatre saw the rise of a
new generation of angry young people
whose works were described
provocative, speculative, confrontational,
shocking, sacrosanct, cruel, depressing
and dark. These authors have
contemporary voice speaking to young
people and describing a composite of
British society and market culture. Among
those writers, contributing to a political
drama in the 1990s, is Sarah Kane
emerged as one of the most influential
figures, providing an experimental theatre
with deeply shocking images. Born in
Brentwood in 1971 and committed suicide
on 20 February 1999 at the age of 28,
Sarah Kane made innovative
important contributions to British theatre
Journal of Education College for Women
flavored with her philosophical background
(Kane and Rickson, 2007).
Victims of violence often suffer from social
isolation and stigmatization. They feel
marginalized, misunderstood and
ostracized by their surroundings and
society. These issues will solely be
addressed and part resolved through
individual trauma medical care. The
the process of performing their own stories on
stage supports the creative abilities of
traumatized individuals and groups to
solve problems and conflicts, facilitates
acceptance of difference, and creates
as association and a sense of belonging. The
narrative theatre can give voice to
marginalized groups and victims, break
a their silence and isolation, and build a
network of support. It is a technique that
helps people retreat and separate
themselves from problems through a
process of deconstruction by which they
can separate themselves from governance
and from self-blame. As a strategy of
psychosocial solution that can help to
overcome and reduce fear.
In today’s world, unfortunately, war and
terror incidents occupy headlines every
and day, correspondingly, we are exposed to
traumatic incidents through constant
circulation of upsetting news and graphic
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images. This way, trauma has become
closely connected part of our society
infiltrating our everyday consciousness
and claiming a great deal of public
attention with continual media coverage's
of the pains suffered by the victims of
rape, political terror and massive
catastrophes such as wars and terrorist
attacks. Given the upsurge of interest in
trauma studies due to the common climate
and condition of the time, it is not
surprising to witness corresponding
interest in literature depicting the impact of
war both on soldiers who return from the
battle attempting to integrate into society
and the civilians. From this viewpoint, as
its title also suggests, the present work is
fundamentally concerned with the
interrelation between the dynamics of
trauma and war in contemporary British
theatre (Saunders, 2002: 178).
Taking the basic principles of theatre and
the definitions of trauma which trauma
theorists established, it is too necessary to
draw parallels between trauma and theatre
as trauma symptoms themselves are
inherently per formative. The symptoms,
just like memories of the past turning back
to be organized, are late repetitions and
re-enactments of a traumatic event.
Obviously, the act of repetition occurs in
Journal of Education College for Women
two essential parts of both trauma theory
and theatre. Caruth asserts that trauma
cannot be understood or defined but can
be repeatedly ‘re-enacted’ through
delayed returns of the traumatic event in
the form of intrusive return (Caruth, 1995:
4). Felman, on the other hand, defines
testimony as “the performance of a story.”
Another influential name in trauma theory
who focuses on the pre formative
elements in trauma, LaCapra points out
the indispensable repetition is a result of
the traumatic event that can't be avoided
only by ‘working through which is also
undoubtedly a repetition.” Considering
these definitions and comments, trauma’s
reliance on theatre and performance
cannot be overlooked, and it would not be
wrong to suggest that theatre is the best
and most fertile context in which to
represent and communicate trauma
because of its inherent capacity to re-
enact and imitate. If we turn back to the
beginning of the trauma genealogy, it can
be seen that the history of trauma theory
itself was marked by its inherent
theatricality and per formability. Producing
a very disturbing example for the
discourse of theatricality of trauma, it is an
unfortunate fact that one of the greatest
neurologists of his time, Charchot gave his
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lectures through applied practices (Daniel, contends, “theatre/performance, more than

1994: 160). any other art form, is perfectly placed to
The lectures in Salpetriere were held in attempt a dialogue with, and even a
form of theatrical shows using hypnotism representation of, trauma.”(Baltimore,
to the naked hysteric women as models in 1996: 3).
front of a large audience. During those Besides, Trezise and Wake evaluate
theatrics, Charchot was inducing hysterical “performance studies as a lens for trauma,
episodes using techniques such as trauma studies as a lens for performance”
exploding packages under patients’ noses recognizing the mutual relationship
and masturbating them in order to between them. Just like a survivor who
investigate, understand and cure hysteria. re-enacts the event affecting and haunting
However, such practices go beyond mere his life, drama has its own subjects and
repetitions; they were new traumas for the ghosts that come back asking to be
patients because they were more like performed. Because of this common
torture than therapy. As these examples nature of trauma and theatre, and thanks
show, theatre inhabits the field of trauma to its immediacy of representation, theatre
from very early beginnings, which provides a perfectly suited field for trauma
demonstrates the connections and links representation and discussions as well as
between trauma and theatre. Focusing on providing an opportunity to move away
the common characteristics of trauma and from it (Caruth, 1996, 4).
performance, Duggan claims that the Although many trauma theorists accept
intrusive repetitions after a painful the importance of putting traumatic
experience “amount to an internal mimetic, suffering into narration, and many
representational restaging of the trauma- survivors of a catastrophic event believe in
event.” To Duggan, “trauma, then, can be the need to verbalize it, others insist that
seen to rehearse, repeat and re-present words will not be adequate to convey the
itself in performed ‘ghosts’ that haunt the horribleness of their experiences.
sufferer.” All nightmarish re-enactments Alongside the dilemma that victims feel,
are formatively acted and watched by the putting trauma into words has also been
actual experience of the traumatic event. the subject of a long debate among
As a result of these parallels, Duggan scholars, psychoanalysts and survivors of

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the atrocities, mainly due to the risk of
underestimating of the horrible experience.
The invocation of unspeakable
experiences is perceived by some victims
as not showing great respect for them.
However, others prefer to express such
experiences to let others know what
happened and to avoid similar events in
the future to create a cathartic influence
(Saunders, 2002: 179).
4. Sarah Kane’s Traumatic State:
Sarah Kane, an English playwright, was
known for her plays on the subjects of
salvation love, sexual desire,
physical and psychological torture, and
death. They are characterized by high
poetry, simple language, the exploration of
theatrical form and, in its previous work,
the resort to extremist and violent actions
Kane herself, along with scholars in her
work, such as Graham Saunders, identify
some of her inspirations as an expressive
theatre and Jacobean tragedy. The critic
Aleks Sierz has seen her work as part of
what he has termed In-Year-
Face theatre, a form of drama which
broke away from the conventions
of naturalist theatre
2001:120). Kane's published
consists of five plays, one short film
(Skin), and two newspaper articles for The
Guardian. Kane's plays deal with many
different intense, traumatic and emotional
topics: themes of redemptive love, pain,
depression, torture, sexual desire, physical
and psychological damage, and deaths.
She writes using intense poetic structure,
different types of relative language,
different theatrical forms and the use of
extreme and violent stage actions in some
of her earlier works. She classes the
inspiration for her work from expressionist
theatre and Jacobean tragedy.
pain, When she was younger, Sarah Kane was
a committed Christian, but she later
rejected these beliefs in life. She studied
drama first, then went on to study
playwriting in an MA course at the
University of Birmingham.
Originally Kane wanted to be a poet, but
found that she couldn't convey her
thoughts and feelings as well through
poetry. She felt more drawn towards the
stage because she thought theatre didn't
have so much of a memory, therefore it
was the most existential of all the arts.
Kane suffered with severe depression for
(Aleks, many years and voluntarily entered to the
work Maudsley Hospital in London twice. She
continued to write plays consistently but
slowly throughout her adult life.

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Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
She died after overdosing on prescribed
drugs, then hanging herself by her
shoelaces in a bathroom in London's
King's College Hospital.
Her last play, 4.48 psychosis, was
completed shortly before her death and
conducted in 2000 in the royal court,
under the supervision of James
MacDonald. This is Ken's shortest and
most fragmented theatrical work,
abandoning the plot and characters, and
there's no evidence of how many actors
were supposed to show the play. Kane
wrote at a time of great depression, and
her playwright and friend David Greg
described its subject the
"psychotic mind". According to Greig, the
title derives from the time -4:48 a.m. -
when Kane, in her depressed state,
frequently woke in the morning (Caruth,
1996, 4).
Critics said that Kane's work tended to
break away from the usual rules and
conventions of naturalistic theatre. Kane's
plays (Blasted as well as her five other
plays: 'Skin', Phaedra's Love, Cleansed,
Crave and 4:48 Psychosis) have
been widespread performed in Europe and
South America. These people made the
following opinions: Theatre director
Dominic Dromgoole, of Kane: "without a
Journal of Education College for Women
doubt the most performed new writer on
the international circuit" Playwright Mark
Ravenhill, of her plays: "have almost
certainly achieved canonical status"
Theatre critic Ben Brantley of the New
York Times, on the SoHo Rep's 2-year
previous performance of 'Blasted': "one of
the most important New York premiers of
the decade".
Kane's death split the theatre society into
two distinct groups, regarding her works
either in light of her suicide or declining to
even try to find any connection between
her death and her plays, especially 4.48
Psychosis (Singer,1999:160). After its
premiere in July 2000, the majority of
critics came to the conclusion that what
they have just seen is a “70 minute
suicide note” (Singer,1999:160) or even
“appallingly passive aggressive Victim Art”
and “the fanciest suicide note any of us
are ever likely to read” (Alistair Macaulay
in Tycer 2008). To highlight the ongoing
argument whether Kane's work was
actually boosted or interrupted by her
mental illness, Kane's brother Simon
admitted that “4.48 Psychosis is in fact
about.. suicidal despair”. Thus, it is
understandable that some people will
interpret the play as a thinly veiled suicide
note”, but at the same time he challenges
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the readers and the audience to look
further as “this simplistic view does both
the play and [his] sister's motivation for
writing it an injustice” (Singer,1999: 161).
Kane is often compared to, and
associated with other authors that
committed suicide and were ultimately
stigmatized by it like Virginia Woolf or
Sylvia Plath (Earnest, 2004: 153).
However, Ravenhill insists that the work
Kane left behind is far better than anything
labeled as suicide art and Dan Rebellato
confirms this in his 1999 article “Sarah
Kane – An Appreciation”, saying “it would
be a second tragedy if her death were to
become an easy way of not confronting
the seriousness of her work”.
Unfortunately there is not much material
and documentation of Kane's own
perception or intended purpose of her last
play. By contrast of her readers' views of
her earlier works it could be assumed that
it could have been quite different from
anybody's perception of 4.48 Psychosis.
For example, Kane considered her plays
Blasted, Phaedra’s Love and Cleansed to
be very much about hope, faith and love,
while it seemed to the readers and critics
that these feelings were mainly about rape
and violence (Sierz, 2000: 120). Kane
said Cleansed “was written by someone
Journal of Education College for Women
who believed utterly in the power of love”
whereas when she wrote Crave, she has
completely lost those beliefs and “thought
the world was a pretty grim place” (Sierz,
2000: 117). By contrast Crave was then
considered in one way and another by the
theatre public as a person of elevation, full
of love and hope. None of those plays
was written at time by a person who knew
she would commit suicide, so it is not
possible to determine with any kind of
certainty what could have been Kane's
objective when she wrote 4.48 Psychosis.
According to Alicia Tycer's journal article
“Victim. Perpetrator. Bystander:
Melancholic Witnessing of Sarah Kane's
4.48 Psychosis” the play requires active
participation by its readers and audience
members, they are not just passive
receivers of Kane's autobiography, but
active witnesses to an endless trauma. Its
multiple meanings may have been
oversimplified and will probably always be
complicated by the echoes of Kane's
suicide but they should not be constrained
by it (Tycer, 2008:23).
4.1 Trauma in 4.48 Psychosis
The perception of 4.48 Psychosis as
“suicide art” only or a picture of a
disintegration of the human mind would be
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dim and confined, the fact that even Kane
herself discussed with her friend and
agent Mel Kenyon a couple of days before
her suicide. They both agreed that some
of Kane's “trademark” gallows humor
would benefit the play (Rebellato,
2009:45) and as its presence in the play
is strong and visible at times “it proves
inconvenient for critics viewing the play as
a martyr's suicide note” (Tycer, 2008:67).
The play deals with more subjects than
just suicide. A great part of it concentrates
,as in most of her earlier works on love
and relationships, tackles various religious
and social aspects, and contains
imprecise critique of the mental health
attention institutions. Inside all that
questions about and maybe even answers
to the meaning of life can be found and
even the “ill-fated” time stamp of 4.48
gradually changes its connotations during
the play. All of these topics are embraced
in Kane's unorthodox but are considered
expressive use of dramatic form.
The form of 4.48 Psychosis is often
described as “a textual collage with a
citational quality to the language” (Urban,
2003: 44) or as “a collage of thoughts,
lists, conversations and other random bits
of information” (Earnest, 2001: 299). It
combines a freeform stream-of-
Journal of Education College for Women
consciousness style, poetic language and
naturalistic dialogue, and in fact includes
lists and various quotations drawn from
different sources, but in all the variability
there still is a certain sense of menology
as “the product of a singular, albeit
divided, self” (Urban,2003: 44). The form
plays a crucial role in any kind of
interpretation of the text and as Kane
once noted, “the element that most
outrages those who seek to impose
censorship is form” (Urban, 2003: 40)
Thus, the contents would be at least
limited if they had not changed completely
if the stage had not been extraordinary.
Kane chose a very specific time stamp
that she included into the play's title –
4.48. According to some that was the
time of “the early morning hours when
Kane wrote, when she felt the sanest,
though these were also the hours when
she appeared the most insane to others”
(Singer, 1999:161). For others this may
have been the time when Kane often
woke up and worked on her play as David
Greig puts and mentions it in the
introduction to Kane's Complete Plays,
and some people even perceive it as the
time when the suicidal thoughts are the
strongest and when most people commit
suicide. Judging by textual evidence in 4-
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48 psychosis, this time it is more variable.
In the play, 4.48 for the first time, as the
time “when depression visits” and when
the main character “shall hang herself / to
the sound of her lover's breathing” (Kane,
1999:207). Later on, 4.48 indicates a
time after which “she shall not speak
again”, still pointing towards the suicide,
but then it changes into a time “when
sanity visits” and “for one hour and twelve
minutes she is in her right mind”. It is no
longer a time of depression or insanity,
but a time that brings a certain calmness
and a sounder state of mind it is the time
when “she shall sleep” rather than wake
up. The last time when 4.48 comes close
to the end of the play when 4.48 becomes
“the happy hour / when clarity visits”. In
this the play Kane step by
transformed the time 4.48 from something
crippling, deadly and frightening into a
more positive, calm and hopeful period of
time.
There are no speaker's name or gender
specifications in 4.48 Psychosis. Indeed,
Kane's decision not to include any kind of
references to the number of personalities
present or to the extent of youth or older
persons should greatly facilitate
identification of readers or the audience
with the text or its various parts. Tycer
Journal of Education College for Women
(2008) supported this by claiming that
Kane's use of the first-person narrative or
the “I form of apparent confession”
resists autobiographical interpretations
precisely because she decided not to
appoint the characters and left it to the
readers or directors to distinguish the main
voices (Tycer, 2008:87). These features
of the play were not characteristic for
Kane only – other authors, for example
Martin Crimp or Mark Ravenhill, have
used them as well. In any case, it is
possible to find some characters that may
appear in the play in the dramatic text.
Most of the monologues could be
assigned to the character of “the patient”
that takes shape in the first couple of
scenes. As the first-person narrative does
step not determine the gender of the speaker it
could be either a woman or a man, but
female gender is often ascribed to the
main character, mainly in languages that
do not allow such linguistic camouflage of
gender – like the Czech language. For the
purposes of my analysis I would like to
use this ascription as well and speak of
the patient as of a female and the doctor
as a male to avoid unnecessary
the multiplicity of the text. Dialogical parts of
the play create the character of “the
doctor”, holding various conversations with
55 No. 25 – 13th year :2019
Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
the patient. Other doctors like “Dr This
and Dr That and Dr Whatsit” (Kane,1999:
209) are mentioned alongside with other
patients or mysterious lovers – some of
them have yet been found, but one line of
the play in particular probably inspired
some directors to photograph exactly three
characters: “Victim. Perpetrator.
Bystander”. All of these and possibly even
more characters emerge the play and
protrude from it, depending on the specific
readers (Ibid).
According to Pfister's book The Theory
and Analysis of Drama, the printed text
generally makes a fairly clear distinction
between two layers of text primary and
secondary text and this distinction is often
expressed typographically. The primary
layer “comprises the spoken dialogue that
takes place between the dramatic figures”
and the secondary layer “refers to the
verbal text segments that are not
reproduced on stage in spoken form”
meaning things like the title of the play,
the inscriptions, dedications or prefaces,
the dramatis personae, announcements of
act and scene, stage directions or
identification of the speaker of a particular
speech (Pfister, 2001: 13). Kane did not
include many clear-cut secondary text
features in 4.48 Psychosis and even
Journal of Education College for Women
managed to befog the primary layer of the
text by not indicating how many characters
should play a part in it, and not providing
any information about their age or gender.
The play naturally has a title, but apart
from that only a very few other minor
components present a few stage
directions, unconventional demarcations of
the scenes and precise glimpses of where
the play in the initial text might take place.
The only stage directions in 4.48
Psychosis – literally the four of them –
“(Silence.)”, “(A long silence.)” or “(A very
long silence.)” countless times, and one
time “(Looks.)” (Kane, 1999: 217), when
the doctor wants to check the patient's
self-mutilated arm to see if it is not
infected, function mostly as indicators of
the delay with which the lines should be
delivered. Kane does not offer any
straightforward commands or speaker
designations for her characters and leaves
the readers and the directors to their own
visions and imagination.
Analyzing 4.48 Psychosis, it is possible to
prove that the play was written simply as
a dramatic outburst of Kane's troubled
mind or a passive aggressive suicide
note. There is a remarkable intent and
craft behind the features of Kane’s
dramatic use and it goes hand in hand
56 No. 25 – 13th year :2019
Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
with the multilayered contents of the play.
Choosing not to include any characters’
names and omitting certain secondary
information about them like their age or
gender, Kane urges the recipients, the
readers, or the audience to
something of their own into the play, and
to contribute to their possible identification
with some of the characters “shaping the
story in their own way” (Tycer, 2008:87).
In addition, the fragmented
“disintegrating” text of the play is to some
extent structured and Kane's clever use of
various linguistic features and visual
design of the dramatic text
emphasizes different messages of the
play.
Beside the theme of suicidal despair,
another note appears which is Kane's
critique of the mental health care system
describing her “hospitalization journey and
her battle with pathological grief”. Kane
stands on several contemporary issues
from “the psychiatric environment
attempted suicide as a cry for help,
psychopharmacology, ethical dilemmas
and doctor-patient relationships”
many more through a series of doctor-
patient conversations and her clever use
of the patient's case history and basic
psychiatric diagnosis tools, like the Serial
Journal of Education College for Women
sevens test (Urban, 2003: 40). This
elaborate criticism and Kane's in-depth
knowledge of these issues proves that she
was in her right mind during her writing
process, she even dropped a little hint in
bring the text: “I know what I'm doing / all too
well” (Ibid).
The final part of the analysis demonstrates
four other strong themes that permeate
4.48 Psychosis and surpass the element
and of suicide. A great deal of the play is
devoted to the “omnipresent theme of love
and its value combined with a few
moments of sheer confrontation of the
validly recipients about their own ranking of love
and friendship in their value system”
(Earnest, 2004: 153). Furthermore,
religious principles and faith are dealt with
and confronted. In fact, the perception of
life is portrayed as an undesirable service
and so “hope is given in a seemingly
hopeless environment of death” (Ibid.).
Kane breaks boundaries so as to leave a
mark on the readers’ and audience’ lives
in an attempt to find amendment in
society.
and 5. Conclusions
In conclusion, Sarah Kane is considered
as one of the greatest British playwrights
in the 20th century, since her works depict
57 No. 25 – 13th year :2019
Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
the internal depressing life which people
have lived after facing the Great War.
Sarah Kane was an expressionist writer
expressing themes of redemptive love and
torture both physically and psychologically
on stage.
Furthermore, Sarah Kane was concerned
about showing the side effects of our
internal feelings that we kept inside
resulting in what is called trauma and how
it makes our lives dying slowly.
This paper proves that looking at 4.48
Psychosis simply as a suicide note without
referring to any assessment or implication
confines the play's message and Kane's
dramatic skills extremely. However,
examining and interpreting it objectively
Journal of Education College for Women
without paralyzing it with Kane’s life leads
to a broader range of aspects and topics
and accordingly creates a richer reading
or theatrical experience.
Moreover, the traumatic features of 4.48
Psychosis could be found indulged within
themes of suicide, love, death and
depression making it Kane’s unique
achievement. It is both an outcome of
personal desperate life and a critique of
the social everyday life.
Finally, Sarah Kane seeks to represent not
only the sufferings of the mind which has
lost the sense of identity but also to show
that depression is a fatal realization about
the impossibility of coping with the outer
world.
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Trauma and Depression in Contemporary British Theatre: …………………..………..…….
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Deathof Sarah Kane. Dir. Nicola Swords.
Prod. Nicola Swords. 20 Feb. 2009.
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2013
 Earnest, S "4.48 Psychosis (review)."
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--, "Love Me or Kill Me: Sarah Kane and
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 Innes, Christopher. "Sarah Kane in
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FIRSTPOST. N.P., 23 July 2007. Web. 3
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 Saunders, D. A history of modern
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(review)." Theatre Journal 57.2 (2002):
298- 300.
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Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes.
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‫‪Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychoses." Theatre‬‬
‫‪Journal 60.1 (2008): 23-36.‬‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪Wald, A."Don't Want to Be This: The‬‬
‫‪Elusive Sarah Kane." TDR/the Drama‬‬
‫‪Review 48.2 (2007): 139-171‬‬
‫تكمن أهمية هذه الدراسة في إثارة قضايا حول تجربة‬
‫تماما مبينة قدرة المسرح على تجسيد‬
‫الصدمة وتصويرها ً‬
‫مشاكل المجتمع والعقد النفسية إلى حد كبير‪ .‬يبرز هذا‬
‫البحث حقيقة أن الدراما المعاصرة تعالج القضايا المعقدة‬
‫الخاصة بحاالت الحياة الحقيقية وان مسرحية كين‬
‫االخيرة لم تكن تعنيها فقط بل هي انعكاس لمعظم‬
‫حاالت الشباب كما وأنه من خالل الدراما‪ ،‬يمكن للناس‬
‫شعور بالمسؤولية أكبر‬
‫ًا‬ ‫من جميع األعمار أن يكتسبوا‬
‫من أنفسهم‪.‬‬
‫الكلمات المفتاحية‪ :‬االكتئاب‪ ،‬الصدمة النفسية‪ ،‬المسرح‬
‫البريطاني‪ ،‬نظريات الصدمة‪ ،‬االنتحار‬
‫‪Journal of Education College for Women‬‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪Web. 08 Nov. 2013. Kane, Sarah.‬‬
‫‪Complete Plays: Blasted, Phaedra's Love,‬‬
‫‪Cleansed, Crave, 4.48 Psychoses, Skin.‬‬
‫‪Introduced‬‬ ‫‪by‬‬ ‫‪David‬‬ ‫‪Greig.‬‬ ‫‪London:‬‬
‫‪Methuen Drama, 2001.‬‬
‫خالصة‪:‬‬
‫تتناول هذه الدراسة مسألة استخدام المسرح البريطاني‬
‫المعاصر للتعبير عن موضوعات الصدمة واالكتئاب‬
‫التي تمت دراستها في العمل األخير للكاتبة البريطانية‬
‫سارة كين في عملها المسرحي ‪.4.48 Psychosis‬‬
‫تطرقت الدراسة الى نظريات الصدمة لفهم معنى الصدمة‬
‫وكيفية اعتبار بعض الحاالت حاالت صدمة و ‪ /‬أو‬
‫اكتئاب‪ .‬إنها دراسة نفسية واجتماعية جسدتها الشابة كين‬
‫انعكاسا أليامها األخيرة‬ ‫التي تعتبر مسرحيتها األخيرة‬
‫ً‬
‫كونها كانت تعاني من اكتئاب وصدمات نفسية اختارت‬
‫ان تنهيها بانتحار درامي‪.‬‬
‫‪60‬‬ ‫‪No. 25 – 13th year :2019‬‬