Skin

by Sarah Kane

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Dark, Fiction, 20th Century

12 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture—both physical and psychological—and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form, and, in her earlier work, the use of stylized violent stage action. Kane battled with depression, and her life was brought to a premature end when she committed suicide at London's King's College Hospital. Her published work consists of five plays and one short film, Skin.

Reviews

[Diana]

مي‌خواستم بنویسم: دوست دارم یه‌روز با سارا کین حرف بزنم؛ حتما چیزای جالبی برای گفتن داره.
بعد پاکش کردم.
مي‌خواستم بنویسم: کارهای سارا کین رو اگر کنار هم بذاری، سخت می‌شه فهمید کدوم به کدومه.
بعد پاکش کردم.
بعد همه‌ی اینارو دوباره نوشتم و دوباره پاک کردم

[Manika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Kane's writing is not about enjoyment. She knows how to hit hard, how to make you react in spite of yourself. Whilst reading this I could feel my guts being pulled out.

[Seb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much to say about Skin. It's a short film about racism. It's too short to renders a real message.

[Aaron Piccirillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I do hope you’re not turning into a vegetarian, Billy.”

i feel like this is so hard to actually rate since it’s a 10 minute screenplay in comparison to kane’s other work. that being said there is still so much of her point of view as a writer in this and was an interesting take on very tricky subject matter. love the double meaning of the title as well as the shifting power dynamics throughout the story and what it means to have power. overall, not my favorite thing she has written but it still fits in with her usual work. i love sarah kane so much anyways.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard hitting screenplay for the 1995 short film about a racist skinhead starring Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner. Some of the scenes were deeply troubling, and I couldn't help but be reminded of Alan Clarke's controversial 1982 television play Made in Britain starring a young Tim Roth. This was only Kane's second work and I could see her doing more TV/film work along with her plays. That's all of Kane's work now read.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It shows racism's roots in the desire for power and compares it to the ideas of powerlessness and remorse. The work is an incredibly short screenplay that would take 15 minutes at most to read or 10 minutes to watch (and I believe there is a rendition on YouTube). It's not here best work, but it is still hard-hitting and worth a read. I'd try out her other works first though.

[b^^]

BILLY
- ¿Por qué no te gusto?

MARCIA
- ¿Por qué no te gusto?

[Plutoboy Foundastar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Euh WTF GUYZ

[Domagoj Badžim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rank lista koju niko nije trazija:
1) Cleansed
2) Phaedra's love
3) 4.48 Psychosis
4) Crave
5) Blasted
6) Skin

[Ell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was something
I truly was not expecting that right after reading 4:48 psychose from Sarah Kane
It was well written and I actually liked the characters.
Only problem is that i don’t usually read stories like that… they’re often not my cup of tea tbh… that’s the only reason im giving it a 3 out of 5, it was good! But not my thing.

[Sofía]

I watched the short film on YouTube (you can find it Vincent O'Connell's channel) before reading the script. I would advise the opposite. Unfortunately, the short film is difficult to understand due to the sound quality, although it does have a very strong soundtrack. Nevertheless, it's more than worth a watch. Sarah Kane's vision is so brutal that even if Skin were a silent film you'd understand it.

Many nuances are lost in the jump from the page to screen, especially relating to Marcia's character. We are left to imagine what the original 30 minute version of this script looked like, but apparently Sarah Kane was present in all the editing process to ensure the story was well condensed to be understood and fit the 11 minute maximum that was requested to submit it to a particular film festival. However, knowing that Sarah Kane also explicitly stated that she didn't wish for any of her stage scripts to be adapted to screen, and knowing this was her one attempt at screenwriting, I can't help but wonder if she was just exploring the medium, if she believed some stories are made for stage and other for screen -although we can find similarities with her first play, Devastated, in the construction of fractions of scenes in Skin, or if she wasn't fully satisfied with the outcome.

One thing is clear: when you see something on stage, you can't press pause.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Least favorite of her stuff; movie adaptation not great (loses most of the poetry in her writing); first thing I've read of hers that feels relentlessly nasty. (others still have flickers of humanity shining through)

[The Book Slayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out great then Sarah Kane couldn't resist the violent surrealism she's so known for and it became less great.

[Kayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but powerful.

[alejaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

ya... no sé qué decir de esta. la termine de leer e inmediatamente fui a verme la short film y fue simplemente una experiencia TAN intensa y dolorosa e incómoda, y es que sigo speechless!? ha sido mi menos favorita de Kane hasta el momento pero es cierto que me hace falta la mitad de su trabajo aún.
hmm a ver, la experiencia visual si que me ayudó a entender más (y poco a poco) la psique de nuestro protagonista racista y fascista. y es que quede loca porque no se siquiera si intérprete bien pero su racismo no estaba fundamentado en una ideología real sino más bien lo adoptaba como una expresión/outlet de unos mommy issues? algún trauma que ha desdibujado el rumbo del prota, y solo es alguien perdido, necesitado de amor, e incapaz de expresarse? puede ser... en fin, no me suscita nada de empatía hacia él, solo defiendo la sociopatia en mujeres con mommy issues.
y puta es que de verdad todos los personajes de Kane están atrapados en un SISTEMA y la única salida que ven posible es la muerte. al final TODOS eligirán el suicidio Y después de haber estado targeting a otros, la violencia siempre y finalmente se dirige contra uno mismo, and i think that's beautiful.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is my least favourite of Kane's that i've read so far but i think that's definitely largely due to the format (reading a screenplay is never going to have the same impact as watching a film, so this rating is probably unfair)
but also the rating system makes it hard. i didn't like this. what's there to like in something like this? (except,maybe, neville). that being said. i can see (i think, maybe???) the kinda point being made but like. then again, maybe i can't. idk. kane writes well though, and it's interesting how much can be put into something so short. but. it was not enjoyable, but nor was it meant to be. so the rating stands.

[Cas ♛]

Given that it is a screenplay I would like to watch it (and hopefully I will soon), I had similar feelings to Phaedra's Love regarding this one in that I would've liked to see it more fleshed out? The characters were extremely interesting and the themes similar to Sarah Kane's other works but in general I was a bit confused about what was going on and what the author wanted to show.

[Adrià Guasch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es tracta del guió d'un curtmetratge que va escriure Kane. Malgrat que sembli una història típica i tòpica (el neonazi mirant-se per primer cop al mirall), el segon tram del curt resulta sorprenent per agosarat, esberlant la cuirassa del protagonista i sotmeten-lo a un estranyíssim i salvatge quid pro Quo.

[Poopie · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty interesting to see Sarah Kane make a different approach when writing, as this was obviously the script for a short film instead of a play.

read everything by her now (all in one day too) and I'm glad to admit she's as talented of a writer as I'd hoped she was and could tell stories in an unbeliavbly fascinating and harrowing way.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to rate as the performance by the actor playing the protagonist was just so goshdarn good.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow.

[C. de L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“MARCIA
No te deseo, Billy.

BILLY
Hice lo que dijiste.

MARCIA
No te deseo.

BILLY lo piensa, luego se levanta y se va”.

[Javier Egea]

ari aster debería filmar esto

[johanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Så naken og rå, jeg gråt

[David Matheny · Rating 1 out of 5]

i think this is the jungle fever story and it is bad.

[Epardut]

Un buen guión con una mala dirección

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Кво по-дяволите....

[Gonzalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guion de un corto, estaría guay verlo. Todo muy intenso. Retrata a la mala gente de un modo realmente crudo.

[milo ✪ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué-
No sé ni siquiera qué decir al respecto.
Qué.
I-

Lo he leído en el pipican mientras Pluto corría, súper apropiado 😍😍

[noa 🪲 · Rating 3 out of 5]

racionalment , sé q no és la seua millor peça . però les meues entranyes se senten , se comporten igual q amb la resta d la seua obra . a soles puc respirar si em concentre molt . ajuda