Blasted

The late Sara Kane’s ‘Blasted’ is one of the most powerful anti war dramas that I have seen.
The scenario….Ian, a middle-aged journalist, and Cate, a friend twenty years younger, are having a torrid encounter in a hotel room where they are holed up.
They are holed up because they are living in the middle of a war zone. The war outside storms in to devastating effect when a young soldier breaks into the flat and dishes out some rough justice.

Belvoir Street theatre, care of Sheedy productions, performed this play as part of its B Sharp season.
This was a production that was relentless in its intensity.
The performances were strong with Kane’s well contrasted characters.
Terry Serio played journalist Ian, hard drinking, misogynistic, cynical as hell, with a dark, vicious streak.
Kate Mulvaney played Cate; young, naïve, childlike, immature, squealy, totally out of her depth in such a heated environment.
The anonymous soldier was played by Nichola Coghlan.

The defining scene…when the soldier spots ID that says Ian is a journalist. He tells Ian that he should tell ‘his story’ to the world, the horrifying experience of what it’s like to be a soldier in a war zone, how insane it is, how valueless human life becomes.
Paraphrasing, Ian replies that the world isn’t interested in real stories…he shuffles paperwork on the floor…the world is interested in trivia, mindlessness.

A final comment…with what’s happening presently in Iraq, it makes ‘Blasted’ more apt and relevant than even in 1995.