4:48 Psychosis was the last work of controversial British
playwright Sarah Kane. In 1999, soon
after her twenty-eighth birthday, having completed the play, she took her own
life.
Naturally, these tragic circumstances can never be far from
the reader’s mind. But to dismiss 4:48 Psychosis as a suicide note is to negate
Kane’s achievement. The play was, in
fact, meticulously researched and carefully written. Kane’s first play, Blasted,
had considerable shock value, and throughout her short career she pushed the
boundaries of what might be considered stageworthy. 4:48 Psychosis is both the
final product of a life marked by recurrent episodes of depression (the play
gets its name from the time she found herself waking up every day during the last episode) and the final
chapter in her writing’s progression towards disintegration. It represents her
deteriorating mental state, but is also a conscious stylistic decision.
The text of 4:48 Psychosis is unrecognizable as a conventional
play. The author has left neither stage
directions nor an indication of the number or gender of performers. Words and
numbers appear to be arranged ornamentally on the page. However, meaning that
is not apparent emerges from the chaos, as in the way that sense may be
made from a psychotic mind. The numbers
are not random, but “serial 7’s” from the mental status exam. Quotations from the Book of Revelations appear
side by side with excerpts from a medical chart, and extracts from self-help
books are interspersed with dialogue between a patient and her
psychiatrist. The latter provides an
illustration of the patient’s attempt to reconcile her anger with her
neediness: “I cannot believe that I can feel this for you and you feel nothing”
(p. 214). We learn too of her struggle with self-mutilation and her suicidal
impulses, and follow her moods from dark humor to despair to hopefulness. Indeed, the last line of the play, “Please
open the curtains” (p. 245) appears to leave open the possibility that she will
pull through. That option was
unfortunately not the one the author chose for herself.
