Complete with cannibalism, fellatio, onstage sexual intercourse, homophobia, rape, and war...I’m almost sure this was way more than what we all bargained for...and if not then you’re a beast. Sarah Kane's Blasted had me like a deer in headlights. The purpose of ‘in-yer-face’ theatre is to reveal and display all the subjects and issues you don’t wish to see or even avoid discussing, but do happen in society anyhow. I kept reminding myself that I was watching ‘in-yer-face’ performances and that it was supposed to gross me out and were performed solely just to make sure I would cringe. I had a hard time wanting to watch this production because I found no interest or desire to invest my eyes on these horrid acts. Every character in this script is somehow psychologically troubled and there is no hero. So what kind of pleasurable feeling can you obtain from watching this? The answer is none.
Watching Blasted made me rethink the concept and purpose of theatre. When the most of us go to see a play, we usually go for the entertainment and or involve our emotions with it. But then I thought, why do people go to see Blasted? They don’t go because they enjoy watching a sick man eat a dead human baby carcass, they don’t go because they enjoy watching a trauma-corrupted soldier gauge and suck the eyeballs out of a man’s face....they go because they value theatre. Theatre is an outlet used to express all types of issues even if they impose discomfort to audiences. So whether or not I enjoyed watching this production, I still appreciated it for its worth. The tolerance and humiliation these professional actors amounted were commendable in terms that they were capable of bending norms and extending their boundaries on a stage in front of an audience night after night. You don’t have to like Blasted or take pleasure in watching it to understand its value, you just have to rethink what theatre actually is.
Briget Phung
UC San Diego
Watching Blasted made me rethink the concept and purpose of theatre. When the most of us go to see a play, we usually go for the entertainment and or involve our emotions with it. But then I thought, why do people go to see Blasted? They don’t go because they enjoy watching a sick man eat a dead human baby carcass, they don’t go because they enjoy watching a trauma-corrupted soldier gauge and suck the eyeballs out of a man’s face....they go because they value theatre. Theatre is an outlet used to express all types of issues even if they impose discomfort to audiences. So whether or not I enjoyed watching this production, I still appreciated it for its worth. The tolerance and humiliation these professional actors amounted were commendable in terms that they were capable of bending norms and extending their boundaries on a stage in front of an audience night after night. You don’t have to like Blasted or take pleasure in watching it to understand its value, you just have to rethink what theatre actually is.
Briget Phung
UC San Diego
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