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Sarah Kane - Crave Essay

Sarah Kane's play Crave has been interpreted in different ways, including through physical theatre. While some argue stage directions are needed to translate a text into physical movements, others believe all theatre is inherently physical as it involves actions and movement. Simon McBurney supports this view, stating that every performance is physical. Charlotte Gwinner's production of Crave stood actors still but their delivery was physical, aligning with Kane's intentions for the play.

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219 views1 page

Sarah Kane - Crave Essay

Sarah Kane's play Crave has been interpreted in different ways, including through physical theatre. While some argue stage directions are needed to translate a text into physical movements, others believe all theatre is inherently physical as it involves actions and movement. Simon McBurney supports this view, stating that every performance is physical. Charlotte Gwinner's production of Crave stood actors still but their delivery was physical, aligning with Kane's intentions for the play.

Uploaded by

connor southwell
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Sarah Kane's play Crave should/should not be performed using physical theatre because...

As far as I'm concerned all theatre is physical. As Aristotle says, you know, theatre is an act
and an action, and he didn't mean just the writing of it, he meant that at the centre of any
piece there is an action, a physical action. Simon McBurney

Crave is a play which has baffled directors and production members by the twisting and fast paced
narrative. Sarah Kane wrote the play in 1998, and the play initially premiered in Edinburgh. Despite
many interpretations including versions by Charlotte Gwinner which was the actors seen stood still
in front of the audience as they deliver their lines in almost a choral way.

Gwinners revival of Kanes play and the style in which it was performed is the exact in which Kane
intended. Some would argue that the use of physical theatre in a traditional incoherent play in an
attempt to extract the answers from a fragmented script and provide messages that are incorrect.
Also, stage directions are considered to be vital for a text to be interpretated into a physical piece.
Famously, Crave doesnt contain stage directions and thus interpretation into a physical sequence,
if you believe Frantic Assembly theory about making a play physical.

So how can you interpret a play with no stage directions into a physical piece when these are
imperative?

Well, as mentioned in the quote by Simon McBurney, a renowned director, actor and artistic
director of Complicate, which, in their own words layers physically beautiful performances
and tightly choreographed ensemble work with innovative lighting, sound and video
design. McBurney believes that any performance can be physical because every performance is
physical. Even Gwinners adaptation of the play is a physical performance because the whole
method of acting is based around physical moving.

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