ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Sarah Kane, was born in Brentwood, United Kingdom on February 3rd 1971. She earned degrees in playwriting and drama from the Universities of Bristol and Birmingham. She created three 20-minute monologues while still in school, which she delivered at the Edinburgh Festival. Blasted, her first full-length drama, was produced at the Royal Court in 1995 in a production directed by James Macdonald. She received  an Arts Foundation fellowship for playwriting in 1998. At the time of their debuts, Kane’s plays generated controversy due to the tackling of taboo subject matter. Despite the negative response to her work from some critics, it has received major acclaim and has been performed all around the word. Sarah Kane is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential playwrights of her generation.

ABOUT THE PLAY

4.48 Psychosis is Sarah Kane’s last play. The play is divided into 24 sections and the form of the play varies heavily from fragmented speech, free form-verse, poetry, monologues, and conversational dialogue. It breaks away from conventional playwriting styles and norms of the time, having no specific characters, time or setting and no stage directions. Throughout the years there have been several interpretations of the play and it’s themes, including themes of depression and suicide due to some of the content in the play and Kane’s history of depression and suicide. Kane ended her life shortly after the completion of this work.

JOIN PLAY DATE

Play Date is a monthly play reading activity, held on the third Thursday of each month.  We read one play from around the world together. The play reading is followed by a group discussion about the play. Anyone is welcome to join and practice reading out loud, regardless of experience or level of English comprehension. With Play Date, learning English becomes fun. This is a place where you can practice speaking out loud, expand your vocabulary and meet new people. Play Date is produced by Crane Creations Theatre Company. Crane Creations is an immigrant led professional theatre company located in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. Join us for our next Play Date!