Friday, 6 October 2000

Crave by Sarah Kane, Oct 6, 2000


Crave by Sarah Kane
at The Storeroom October 6 to  22, 2000
Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Sarah Kane writes about depression and lost love, abandonment and fear of death. Crave was first produced in the UK 1998. Kane committed suicide the following year. her writing could not purge her desperation.

Crave reeks of Kane's existential pain. Four characters speak in disconnected dialogue. They seem to be two couples or perhaps they are four totally separate individuals voicing the patterns of dialogue we all reiterate in our vain attempts to survive in relationships.

The four actors (Miria Kostiuk, Trudy Hellier, Neil Pigot, Michael Robinson) sit or stand in an empty space each in his or her own light. Each a discreet and isolated soul in a physical and emotional vacuum.

A young woman (Kostiuk) speaks about her abusive childhood, fraught adulthood, fear of death and damaged relationship.

A man (Pigot) Who may be her ex-lover, sits and weeps as he describes his dysfunctional relationship to his "dark angel". He grieves for the pain he causes both her and himself, for the loss of love, the need for love, the power of passion and despair.

Another woman stands under a single light and demands her lover leave - or stay. She feels little. She cannot love. The world is cold for her.

The man who seems to be her lover (Robinson) is the one who seeks a quick fix, who cannot attach, who is always romancing and speaking a foreign language.

The aching emotional pain is palpable but it is diluted to a bearable level by the abstraction of the overlaying of the dialogue of the four actors.

Janice Muller's direction is intelligent and crisp. She keeps the space empty and the characters full.

Even the unplanned refrigeration noises on the roof of the venue added some rough ambience to Kane's profoundly sad play.

By Kate Herbert


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