Sarah Kane and Cleansed: Projecting Life on Stage

Abstract

In this article, we will analyse Sarah Kane’s play Cleansed reading in itexpressions of her personal life, as they are intertwined with characters on stage.The performance features different stories of six victims and an omnipotent sadist who makes them the “prisoners” of some unspecified institution. The set resembles a hyperreal hospital / campus with features of a detention centre where siblings in an incestuous relationship, a homosexual couple, a disturbed young man and a peep-show dancer try to survive.
The play raises problems of social intolerance and transgenderism, physical violence and consumption of harmful substances. In an atmosphere of deprivation, young people resist punishment, showing affection for their loved ones.