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Love Me Or Kill Me. Sarah Kane e il teatro degli estremi
Love Me or Kill Me is the first study of Sarah Kane, the most significant British dramatist in post-war theater. It covers all of Kane's major plays and productions, contains hitherto unpublished material and reviews, and looks at her continuing influence after her tragic early death. Locating the main dramatic sources and features of her work as well as centralizing her place within the 'new wave' of emergent British dramatists in the 1990's, Graham Saunders provides an introduction for those familiar and unfamiliar with her work.
302 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2002
8 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Graham D. Saunders
6 booksGraham D.^^Saunders
Professor Graham Saunders PhD
Department of Drama and Theatre Arts
Allardyce Nicoll Chair in Drama, University of Birmingham.
Joined the Drama and Theatre Arts department in January 2016, after teaching at the University of Reading since 2005 in the department of Film, Theatre and Television. Also has taught at the universities of Coventry, Lancaster and the University of the West of England (UWE).
Co-ordinates research in the department in relation to the College of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies (EDAC).
Research in a number of areas:
Best known for work on the playwright Sarah Kane, but now more generally in British drama since 1945. This has included work on the history of the Arts Council of Great Britain; fringe and touring companies from 1968-1994, as well as the work of dramatists including Edward Bond, Howard Barker, Patrick Marber and David Eldridge.
Also published on the work of Samuel Beckett and has a long standing interest in the relationship between contemporary British dramatists and their appropriation of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
Professor Graham Saunders PhD
Department of Drama and Theatre Arts
Allardyce Nicoll Chair in Drama, University of Birmingham.
Joined the Drama and Theatre Arts department in January 2016, after teaching at the University of Reading since 2005 in the department of Film, Theatre and Television. Also has taught at the universities of Coventry, Lancaster and the University of the West of England (UWE).
Co-ordinates research in the department in relation to the College of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies (EDAC).
Research in a number of areas:
Best known for work on the playwright Sarah Kane, but now more generally in British drama since 1945. This has included work on the history of the Arts Council of Great Britain; fringe and touring companies from 1968-1994, as well as the work of dramatists including Edward Bond, Howard Barker, Patrick Marber and David Eldridge.
Also published on the work of Samuel Beckett and has a long standing interest in the relationship between contemporary British dramatists and their appropriation of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 26, 2020
When it comes to Sarah, I can't help being absolutely, shamelessly biased. Even her dirty toilet paper would look like a masterpiece to me. So I found this book to be a really good analysis of her work, one that avoids all sorts of juicy gossiping about the playwright's private life (namely her sexuality, religious fervour followed by a tormented phase of denial, mental illness, suicide etc) and focuses solely on her artistic achievements, rigorously and thoroughly.
The first part is an in-depth study on the plays, how they were performed and how the author reacted to the devastating effect they had on British drama, starting with her debut in 1995. The second half of the book is a collection of interviews with directors, translators, actors and agents who knew Kane personally and took part in the actual performing of her works.
A perfect companion to this edition of her complete plays:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The first part is an in-depth study on the plays, how they were performed and how the author reacted to the devastating effect they had on British drama, starting with her debut in 1995. The second half of the book is a collection of interviews with directors, translators, actors and agents who knew Kane personally and took part in the actual performing of her works.
A perfect companion to this edition of her complete plays:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 14, 2024
‘sarah would’ve hated to become an academic’s darling’ 😬😬😬
May 14, 2021
5/5: Leave it to me to cry from an academic book.
A little disclaimer, I have only read the section on Phaedra's Love and 4.48 Psychosis because these are the two plays I've read so far. I'll be sure to check out the other sections once I've read the rest. I also read Edward Bond's afterword and bawled my eyes out for reasons I will explain later on.
I understand that this is one of the greatest sources out there on Kane and indeed, there aren't many that hit the mark but I believe this one does. This book is a very accessible guide that introduces you to and contextualizes all of Kane's plays, from first to last, complete with interviews with the playwright, actors, and practitioners involved in the study and productions of the plays, and concludes with Bond's incredibly moving afterword. I found the sections on Phaedra's Love and 4.48 Psychosis really well written and I was glad to see that even though they strongly resembled close readings of the plays, they did not stick to a specific interpretation of them, rather they included an array of potential interpretations or kept the interpretations quite surface-level so that you could come up with your own. As a playwright, Kane refused categorization and pigeonholes so I thought it was very appropriate that Saunders avoided them as well.
While I was reading the section on Phaedra's Love I was mostly intrigued by the part about the parallels between the royal family in the play and the real-life British royal family and how Phaedra is depicted as much of an outsider as Diana was (p. 75). At first, it does sound a bit far-fetched of a reading. But if one considers that Kane herself said 'it would be a really good time for a production (Phaedra's Love) in Britain' (the interview is referenced in the book, p.75) less than six months after Diana's death then it does begin to sound like a plausible reading. Saunders also attempts to relate each play to its predecessor, so when I was reading up on Phaedra's Love, he would parallelize events or characters to Blasted, Kane's first play. I found that very useful because even though I've no idea what happens in Blasted (apart from the fact that it's gruesome and will give me nightmares) I now have some context and can understand how each character can be seen as a different version of another or if they have common fears, motives, etc.
I think the unpublished interviews with Kane got to me as well. I felt they were carefully selected to complement the text and conceptualize certain scenes from the plays and to inform as to Kane's thought process, original source materials, main inspirations, and such. I felt a little sad reading them and it all culminated when I concluded my research with Bond's afterword. I didn't need the afterword for research, I just wanted to see what he had to say about Kane, being a magnificent playwright himself. I was in tears because he talked about the nature of drama, the search of the ultimate, of a structure that we can cling onto so that we may understand something of the world and how we keep tip-toeing around reality without ever truly confronting it and he did it in such a raw way that it made me understand why Kane chose to end it and why anyone would. But there was also hope in his observations just like there was a glimmer of hope in 4.48 Psychosis.
Overall, it is a really good book if you want to expand your knowledge of Kane's work. The layout is easy to navigate, the language very accessible, and the bibliography extensive and intriguing.
A little disclaimer, I have only read the section on Phaedra's Love and 4.48 Psychosis because these are the two plays I've read so far. I'll be sure to check out the other sections once I've read the rest. I also read Edward Bond's afterword and bawled my eyes out for reasons I will explain later on.
I understand that this is one of the greatest sources out there on Kane and indeed, there aren't many that hit the mark but I believe this one does. This book is a very accessible guide that introduces you to and contextualizes all of Kane's plays, from first to last, complete with interviews with the playwright, actors, and practitioners involved in the study and productions of the plays, and concludes with Bond's incredibly moving afterword. I found the sections on Phaedra's Love and 4.48 Psychosis really well written and I was glad to see that even though they strongly resembled close readings of the plays, they did not stick to a specific interpretation of them, rather they included an array of potential interpretations or kept the interpretations quite surface-level so that you could come up with your own. As a playwright, Kane refused categorization and pigeonholes so I thought it was very appropriate that Saunders avoided them as well.
While I was reading the section on Phaedra's Love I was mostly intrigued by the part about the parallels between the royal family in the play and the real-life British royal family and how Phaedra is depicted as much of an outsider as Diana was (p. 75). At first, it does sound a bit far-fetched of a reading. But if one considers that Kane herself said 'it would be a really good time for a production (Phaedra's Love) in Britain' (the interview is referenced in the book, p.75) less than six months after Diana's death then it does begin to sound like a plausible reading. Saunders also attempts to relate each play to its predecessor, so when I was reading up on Phaedra's Love, he would parallelize events or characters to Blasted, Kane's first play. I found that very useful because even though I've no idea what happens in Blasted (apart from the fact that it's gruesome and will give me nightmares) I now have some context and can understand how each character can be seen as a different version of another or if they have common fears, motives, etc.
I think the unpublished interviews with Kane got to me as well. I felt they were carefully selected to complement the text and conceptualize certain scenes from the plays and to inform as to Kane's thought process, original source materials, main inspirations, and such. I felt a little sad reading them and it all culminated when I concluded my research with Bond's afterword. I didn't need the afterword for research, I just wanted to see what he had to say about Kane, being a magnificent playwright himself. I was in tears because he talked about the nature of drama, the search of the ultimate, of a structure that we can cling onto so that we may understand something of the world and how we keep tip-toeing around reality without ever truly confronting it and he did it in such a raw way that it made me understand why Kane chose to end it and why anyone would. But there was also hope in his observations just like there was a glimmer of hope in 4.48 Psychosis.
Overall, it is a really good book if you want to expand your knowledge of Kane's work. The layout is easy to navigate, the language very accessible, and the bibliography extensive and intriguing.
November 27, 2025
"Ho scritto sempre e solo per sfuggire all'inferno, e non ha mai funzionato; tuttavia quando ti siedi a guardare qualcosa, e ti ritrovi a pensare che sia la migliore espressione possibile di quell'inferno, allora, in quel preciso momento, scopri che forse ne valeva la pena".
Sarah Kane 3 Novembre 1998
meno di 4 mesi dopo Sarah si tolse la vita. Aveva 28 anni.
Un libro che avevo da 15 anni e che magicamente è riapparso, grazie anche alla segnalazione dell'amico @Orsodimondo che ha recensito l'edizione Einaudi di "Tutto il teatro", la collezione dei testi teatrali scritti e messi in scena da colei che venne definita dal drammaturgo Edward Bond "una donna che nella sua breve vita è riuscita a diventare un'icona pubblica."
Un libro imprescindibile per chi voglia conoscere a fondo Sarah Kane.
Sarah Kane 3 Novembre 1998
meno di 4 mesi dopo Sarah si tolse la vita. Aveva 28 anni.
Un libro che avevo da 15 anni e che magicamente è riapparso, grazie anche alla segnalazione dell'amico @Orsodimondo che ha recensito l'edizione Einaudi di "Tutto il teatro", la collezione dei testi teatrali scritti e messi in scena da colei che venne definita dal drammaturgo Edward Bond "una donna che nella sua breve vita è riuscita a diventare un'icona pubblica."
Un libro imprescindibile per chi voglia conoscere a fondo Sarah Kane.
January 24, 2020
I agree with the review that popped up saying the author is infatuated with Ms. Kane's work. However, this critique and examination of Kane's work is intelligent, well-written and interesting. I met the author online and had several online discussions about Sarah Kane's play "Cleansed." I love how Saunders shows how Kane incorporates literature and the Bible into her plays. I also enjoyed the discussion of the symbolism of her plays. I actually read this book twice, something I do not normally do with a literary critique. The British "theater of extremes" or "in your face movement" has given the world amazing plays, including Sarah Kane.
February 12, 2017
Offers a comprehensive and fascinating critique of Sarah Kane's work. Considering this is the only major book of criticism of her work I've stumbled upon, it's been really helpful for my studies. I love all of the interview quotes from Kane herself, as well as the exclusive interviews with Sarah's team and actors. A great companion to Kane's work.
Read
October 1, 2022I do agree with some of the reviews here which point out that there is a greater focus here on Kane’s early work, particularly Blasted, perhaps to the disservice of the later plays. But this is a trend across the critical literature regarding Kane’s work; part of my dissertation argued for a more comprehensive approach to Kane as a dramatist. However, this book is nonetheless an insightful and illuminating study of Sarah Kane and the driving principles of her work.
February 8, 2024
"Go mad and die, or function and be insane" oppure come direbbe Sarah stessa:
"I am jealous of my sleeping lover and covet his induced unconsciousness
When he wakes up he will envy my sleepless night of thought and speech unslurred by medication"
(Non sono cinque stelle perché Graham Saunders maledetto continua di capitolo in capitolo a farti sniffare stralci dell'intervista a Kane di Nils Tabert disponibile integralmente solo in tedesco, questa è crudeltà pura).
"I am jealous of my sleeping lover and covet his induced unconsciousness
When he wakes up he will envy my sleepless night of thought and speech unslurred by medication"
(Non sono cinque stelle perché Graham Saunders maledetto continua di capitolo in capitolo a farti sniffare stralci dell'intervista a Kane di Nils Tabert disponibile integralmente solo in tedesco, questa è crudeltà pura).
June 24, 2021
Generally features great - if anonymous - criticism, but the general shape of the project feels misguided. Very strange that Saunders says Kane's work gets more mature and elaborate as it goes on (it does) and then proceeds to write the most about Blasted and then less and less, only spending 10 pages(!) on 4.48 Psychosis.
Read
December 18, 2023v good
Read
February 4, 2016Only read the part about the plays, as I don't think the conversations would have helped me in my preparation for the exam. It's a decent book, although sometimes it seems all over the place, a bit disorganised. I'd recommend Saunders' other book on Kane, About Kane , because it ismuch better structured. Since there are so few books on Kane, it's definitely good having a look at this one,though.
March 31, 2008
Not exactely as helpful or interesting as I expected.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews