Suicide Drama To Be Staged Posthumously In London

LONDON (Reuters) — A leading London theater is to stage the last play of one of Britain’s most controversial writers — the tale of a suicide that Sarah Kane finished just one week before killing herself.

The 26-year-old playwright rose to fame and notoriety in 1995 with her first play “Blasted” that contained graphic scenes of sex and violence. “It is a feast of filth,” said one critic.

Her last work — “4:48 Psychosis” — was completed only a week before Kane took an overdose and then hanged herself in hospital with her own shoelaces.

She wrote at night in intense bursts, confessing: “I hate it. I get no pleasure from writing. It kills me.”

The play, which is being staged by the ground-breaking Royal Court Theater as part of its new season, deals with the pain of love and ends with the heartbroken heroine killing herself.

“Being in love was like being in Auschwitz,” she said of the play’s theme.

Updated 10:58 AM ET September 21, 1999