Sarah Kane, the writer of ‘Crave', burst onto the theatre scene in l995 with her play ‘Blasted' which was vilified by the critics. Three years later, when ‘Crave' was first performed at the Traverse Theatre (l998), her status was completely altered and she was viewed as one of the most influential British dramatists.
Kane suffered from bipolar disorder and had a fascination with death (regretably she committed suicide in l999 at the young age of 28). Death is a topic that comes up quite frequently in ‘Crave' which features four nameless characters. A, the abuser (played intensely by Edward Rice); M, the maternal figure (Stephanie Bain, who captured the dispassionate nature of the character); B, the addict (Osheen Jones, who captured the at times agonising state of the addict) and C, the tortured child (played by Alexandra Guelff, who could have imbued more passion in the words).
Kane gave no directions, nor any setting for this play. Given the minimal space the actors were performing in, Osheen Jones effectively managed to create scenes. However, the actors did speak too quickly at times, making it difficult to grasp and contemplate the intensity of the lines - and more could have been done with the pacing of the piece to create a greater impact.
Times: 5.45pm, til 27 August