Sarah Kane has always caused a division in theatre. Her debut play, Blasted, in 1995 incited scandal in the London theatrical scene and set the tone for how critics viewed Kane and her work. Her subsequent works were also violent, visceral and extreme, becoming her trademark themes. Kane, however, changed the tide with her fourth play Crave; seeming to transcend this visual brutality with a more lyrical and poetic approach.

The play has no fluid narrative, instead opening its voice out for wider interpretation. Its lack of character names (each character is merely identified by the letter of an alphabet) provides anonymity, but also universal connection to the viewer and a blank canvas for any director.  

All four characters speak as if fragments of one mind, or several, in broken conversation; they work in opposition but also in synergy. Kane’s work is intense and sporadic, and as one thought leaves the mind, another enters. When viewing a lot of the performance, its hard to keep track but you ultimately understand that that’s Kane’s point, the multitude of thoughts in your mind don’t make sense so why should this work be a reflection of anything linear? This is reflected in the performances you are presented with.

Kane’s writing is harsh and unapologetic. It explores all aspects of the human condition, however dark and unforgiving, light and loving, giving everyone a voice. The heavy subject matter tackles rape, pedophilia, incest and abuse.

The cast comprises of Erin Doherty, Alfred Enoch, Wendy Kweh and Jonathan Slinger, whom all confront these subjects head on with unwavering balance and precision. They navigate the psychological terrain of such atrocities with dynamic fear and terrifying embodiment of pain and anguish. All four work together cohesively when the text allows them to, but also individually magnify aspects of these intense thoughts.

As ‘A’, Jonathan Slinger takes on the primary role of the lover and storyteller. His unbridled honesty is alarming, saddening and engaging, and he charters his emotional changes in an organic and beautiful fashion. Erin Doherty’s ‘C’ seems to personify elements of petulance and anger but from a root of dire mental confusion and isolation. Her embodiment and availability of emotion is extraordinarily touching and devastating in equal measure. Wendy Kweh’s ‘M’ adds the most static and natural of elements. Kweh dances the fine line between numbness and reaction so expertly throughout, and her moments of confusion and hatred explode beautifully. Finally, in the form of ‘B’, Alfred Enoch provides an honest and open struggle of lapsing psychosis ranging from the mundane, to the argumentative and self-loathing all woven together seamlessly.  

As the actors work together to create the frenetic body of the mind so does the creative team. Director Tinuke Craig has worked closely with Designer Alex Lowde, Lighting Designer Joshua Pharo and Film Designer Ravi Deepres to portray a kinetic environment on stage. The use of individual travelators reinforces the concept of the thoughts constantly running through the mind, pulling you back, pushing you forward with relentless abandon and emphasising that feeling we sometimes get as if we’re all just walking the same unending path. This is also heightened with the use of the revolve, representing the endless cyclical nature of a mental spiral.

The constant reminder of an expansive mind is used in the projection. Each actor’s travelator has a dual camera at the front, live projecting onto the wall behind them, focusing on images of each other, combining and overlapping them to further affirm the litany of thoughts and conflicting emotions that can flood the mind and create a sense of instability. The lighting state creates individual channels on the travelators to display isolating fragments of our minds, as well as wide stark lighting floods that feel as if they are exposing all our flaws. These contrast with moments of darkness and greyer elements that heighten our underlying confusion and the close line we all dance on between light and dark.  

Kane’s matter of fact speech is also interwoven with lyrical majesty and poetry, creating a sense of beauteous brutality. Crave explores the mental chaos everyone feels on all elements of the spectrum of mental health, with people from all walks of life, wholesome and depraved. There are, however, small moments of levity and calmness amongst the chaos and an underlying desire to fight against the tide of mental oppression which are just as impactful as the more hard-hitting moments.

Crave was a brave and brazen choice considering the mental strains everyone has felt this year but that has probably also made it a very necessary one. Judging by the applause that proceeded the show and the even bigger one after, people are still demanding to be in a theatre watching a live performance in order to be affected and changed by the artistic expression of reality.  

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Duncan Burt