Review of Luna Theater’s Blasted at the Adrienne

Flyers for Sarah Kane’s ‘blasted’ dare readers with the question: “Are you brave enough?” In a room crowded with serious theater-goers, critics, theater majors, playwrights and the like, the play opened simply enough with a man and a woman entering a hotel room in Leeds, Northern England. While the location never changes, the 85 minute-long ‘blasted’ drags the audience through varying scenarios, time-scapes, and emotions.

There isn’t a simple summary to provide for ‘blasted,’ though it boils down to an uncompromising analysis of humanity. The playwright, Sarah Kane, is well known not only for her suicide at age 28, but also for her graphic exploration of sex and violence. In ‘blasted,’ sex and violence become entangled and equally dehumanizing. In what could be considered the play’s first act, the characters Ian and Cate are introduced as former lovers, with Ian aggressively trying to re-ignite the flame and Cate acting both out of pity and fear. John Jezior’s Ian is impossible to sympathize with as he uses his poor health and supposed love for Cate as emotional bribery. With this, along with brut force, Ian and Cate’s sex acts can only be classified as rape, reducing Cate into a colonized, brutalized territory. As Cate, Haley McCormick is the play’s only sympathetic character- stuttering, confused, and eventually resigned.

To make the war metaphor even more overt, an unnamed soldier enters the scene. The script only vaguely alludes to the uneasy political situation occurring outside the hotel room, until the soldier pushes his way into the plot and changes the power dynamics. While he is only really on stage for around 15 minutes, Jerry Rudasill creates a lingering emotional force that reflects the confused logic of war and its barbarity. His accent is intentionally vague, making the conflict seem more universal. The play then warps time through throbbing blackouts and escalating, increasingly hectic violence. Without really knowing what is real, Ian clings desperately to survival. As he fights for his life, he ironically loses his humanity.

Are you brave enough? ‘blasted’ is a strong, penetrating evaluation of humanity, and Luna Theater Company’s production does not shy away from its graphic physicality and violence. The actors pour passion into every line, no matter how revolting or barbaric. ‘blasted’ is exemplary theater, but only if you are brave enough for the violent, offensive ride.

‘blasted’
Luna Theater Company
Directed by Gregory Scott Campbell
UPstairs@The Adrienne
Adrienne Theater (3rd Floor)
Through Feb. 26
Tickets for can be purchased here.