Playwright was known for her provocative plays which included basically all of the taboo topics: rape, torture, violence, cannibalism the list is endless. In most of her productions several audience members are expected to walk out, while others tend to miss the performance by fainting instead.

1. Sarah Kane Crave

Sarah Kane Crave

Kane’s plays are as relevant now as they were in the 1990s, when she wrote most of them while suffering from severe clinical depression. We investigate Sarah Kane’s most controversial and provocative plays, which have caused a stir in the theatre world, but are incredibly intriguing and wonderfully gruesome. Blasted Blasted was the first of Kane’s plays to ever be written and performed. This was in 1995 – yet the themes explored and the plot is as controversial nowadays as it was then.

When it first opened back in the 1990s, it became an instant theatrical scandal and was profoundly attacked by various critics. The play is set in a hotel room in Leeds, in the midst of a war, and features two main characters: Ian, a middle-aged journalist who is both a misogynist and a racist, and Cate, a young woman that is emotionally fragile and seemingly quite dumb. At first, Ian tries to continuously seduce Cate, who resists until she finally manages to escape the room. The hotel is then hit by a bomb, leaving the room in ruins. A third character enters the play, a soldier, who rapes Ian and sucks out his eyes, leaving him blind, after which he commits suicide.