BLASTED: one of the most controversial plays of the past two decades with Michelle Monteith

Blasted: one of the most controversial plays of the past two decades with Michelle Monteith and Dylan Smith

BY JUAN CARLOS CORDERO / UNO International News Service, Toronto, Canada.

BLASTED by Sarah Kane, directed by Brendan Healy, with David Ferry, Michelle Monteith and Dylan Smith. Presented by Buddies in Bad Times (12 Alexander). In previews, opens Tuesday (September 28) and runs to October 17, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2:30 pm. Pwyc-$33. 416-975-8555, buddiesinbadtimes.com

Blasted is an early script by Sarah Kane, revised shortly before her suicide at 28. It includes scenes of rape, masturbation and cannibalism. When it premiered in London in 1995, some critics were outraged, one going so far as to call it “a disgusting feast of filth.” Playwrights like Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter and Edward Bond came to the writer’s defence. Michelle Monteith's character Cate has a history of abuse and at one point simulates biting her partner, Ian’s, genitals, understands how some people could be disturbed by it.

Blasted


By Sarah Kane

Directed by Brendan Healy

Featuring David Ferry, Michelle Monteith and Dylan Smith

Set and Costume Design Julie Fox

Lighting Design Kimberly Purtell

Music and Sound Design Richard Feren

September 22 – October 10, 2010
buddiesinbadtimes.com



A middle-aged journalist and a young woman hole up in a hotel room. Outside, a war rages on. What begins as a sordid love story takes on a nightmarish dimension as violence between the couple escalates. An armed soldier appears in the room and brings with him the terrifying fragments of a world blown apart by war.

Sarah Kane’s landmark play, with its unflinching depiction of violence and sexuality, was lambasted by British critics when it was first performed in 1995 as “a disgusting feast of filth” (Daily Mail). The ensuing controversy that emerged from that production is legendary. Blasted prompted a fierce public debate about the function of art. Harold Pinter famously defended Kane in a letter, writing "to create something beautiful about despair, or out of a feeling of despair, is . . . the most hopeful, life-affirming thing a person can do."
Adding to Kane’s notoriety was her suicide in 1999, at the age of 28. Her death was deeply felt by the international artistic community and Kane became an icon. She continues to be the subject of intense fascination, speculation and academic scrutiny, as the world grapples to find hope beneath the violence and despair in her plays and in her death. Blasted is now widely recognized as one of the most important plays to come out of the English-speaking world in the last twenty years.
Blasted has never before been produced in English Canada. Artistic Director Brendan Healy states: “I am thrilled to be opening my first season with the Canadian premiere of this modern classic. Kane was motivated by a ferocious desire to challenge our culture’s complacency and desensitization. Her plays provocatively defy conventional theatrical form. In my opinion, the fearlessness of her rebellion against the status quo and the depth of her compassion for humanity embody the spirit behind Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Our production of Blasted is a bold reassertion of Buddies’ relevance as an artistic and political force in our city.”
This production features some of the country’s most accomplished actors: multi Dora and Genie Award-nominated actor Michelle Monteith (Crave, The Russian Play and TV series Haven) and Dora Award-winner and Genie-nominated actor David Ferry (Oleana, Someone to Watch Over Me, Eternal Hyrda) along with the multi-talented powerhouse Dylan Smith (Age of Arousal, Don Carlos). Dora Award-winning designers Richard Feren, Julie Fox and Kimberly Purtell bring this exceptionally intimate theatrical experience to life. Healy’s production moves deftly between hyper-naturalism and surreal abstraction. Fox’s set completely transforms Buddies’ mainstage, making the theatre almost unrecognizable. Seating for Blasted is highly limited (maximum capacity of 60 seats per show).

Some performances of Blasted have already begun to sell out.

BLASTED

September 22 – October 10, 2010

Previews September 22 – 26, Wed – Sat 8pm, Sun 2:30pm

Opening Night: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 8pm

Runs to October 10, 2010

Shows Tues – Sat 8pm, Sun 2:30pm

Tickets PWYC - $33.

Tickets now available online through totix.ca

For tickets call Buddies’ Box Office at 416-975-8555

Visit buddiesinbadtimes.com for more info.

12 Alexander Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M4Y 1B4

Michelle Monteith

Michelle Monteith is a Scotland-born, Vancouver-raised, Toronto-based actor. Recent credits include: The Mill Parts 1 and 2 (Theatrefront), The Glass Menagerie, (Red Barn Theatre), Ubuntu:The Cape Town Project (Tarragon Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Theatrefront), Romeo and Juliet, Caesar and Cleopatra, Love's Labour's Lost, (Stratford Festival), The Russian Play (Factory Theatre, Summerworks, Harbourfront, The Magnetic North Theatre Festival), Revisited (co-creator 2b Theatre, Canadian and International tour), Crave (Nightwood Theatre), Leo (Great Canadian Theatre Company), Generous (Tarragon Theatre), Billy Nothin' (Theatre SKAM), Chekhov Longs...In the Ravine, (Factory Theatre, National Arts Centre, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Neptune Theatre), Hamlet and After the Orchard (NAC), The Glass Menagerie (Saidye Bronfman Centre, CanStage), Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, As You Like It (Resurgence Theatre), After the Dance and Undiscovered Company (Montreal Young Company). Film/TV/Voice credits include: Pearlie, Scaredy Squirrel, Ruby Gloom, Braceface, Death and the Maiden (CBC), Tomorrow (Streel Films), M.V.P. (CBC), Murdoch Mysteries. (biographical information and photo courtesy of Human Cargo)