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Provoking look into fear and depression
4.48 PSYCHOSIS
Old Red Lion
WHEN talking of Sarah Kane’s harrowing drama, playwright
Mark Ravenhill feared it would be very hard for 4.48 Psychosis
to be read solely as a play, without the author’s biographical
details getting in the way.
In January 1999, after completing 4.48 Psychosis (so called
because it’s the time of morning when people are most likely
to kill themselves), Sarah Kane swallowed 150 anti-depressants
and 50 sleeping pills. She survived because her flatmate found
her in time and rushed her to King’s College Hospital.
Two days later she was found hanging from her shoelaces in a
nearby toilet. She was 28 years old.
Despite Kane’s tumultuous life, the audience must try to
get the most from 4.48 Psychosis and try to separate the artist
from her art and see the play as its own entity.
The play charts the disintegration of a mind tired of life.
The fluid structure of the play means the action feels like
a moving tableau with sound. Seven female actresses make the
ensemble that performs the functions of the distressed mind.
In the tiny auditorium in the Old Red Lion theatre their combined
chanting, singing, crying, shouting and dancing, are relentless
and at times intrusive. All the actresses, although faceless
parts of one mind gave powerful individual performances, in
particular Gehane Strehler, her quiet passion and fiery anger
filled the stage.
The mesmerising physical and vocal actions of the ensemble were
mechanically in sync, adding to the haunting power of the play.
The dramatic poetry of the play was enhanced by the thoughtful
production. The white walls were eerie and surgical, the bright
lights disturbing. 4.48 Psychosis is a look into the fear and
loneliness of one person’s depression but also provides
an enlightening and thought provoking evening.
March 11
020 7837 7816
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