The plays of British playwright Sarah Kane (1971 – 99) are notoriously difficult — for staging, and for what they put an audience through. The warning distributed by the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, for the production of Cleansed, running through Jan. 26 at the University Theater, reads:“Cleansed contains nudity; graphic simulations of sexual and physical violence, sexual intimacy, suicide, incest, death, and drug use; as well as coarse language. These actions are enacted by and on Black people. This production also contains loud sounds, extended gunfire, live flame, fog, bright lights, and strobe lighting effects.”
Yes, all that is true, and it’s best to get that up front. It’s a warning to some sensibilities that they may feel affronted. It’s also an invite to others in search of sensationalism or a theatrical vision they can decry. Come see how outrageous this play can be!
But if one comes away from Cleansed with a sense of outrage at the action of the play, then the play has not achieved its end. The outrage is meant for the nature of the world we blithely live in.
