Sarah Kane was an explosively controversial playwright who suffered from depression, communicating worlds of psychological turmoil through incredibly disturbing theatre. Naloxone Ensemble’s intent with Sugar Kane is to give an insight into the life of the woman behind her plays. While it is most definitely a worthy concept the performance by no means achieves its aim.
Firstly, the dense, inaccessible nature of the play’s set-up detracts from any meaning that is conveyed through the dialogue. The idea was that aspects of Kane’s personality would be represented through the different characters on stage. Some of the alter egos on stage are realistic portrayals of an actual person, the broken Kane, while others are just strange and absurd. Alethea Estill gives a moving performance as ‘Decayed and Foul’. The entire cast bring an unmistakable energy to the piece which distributes moments of clarity amongst the chaos. In general, however, they just don’t quite succeed in fully overcoming the opacity of Sugar Kane’s basic construct.
Nevertheless, the playwright, Paul Engers, should be given credit for some original touches. The play is given a sense of currency through the presence of a student who comes on stage intermittently to read out her interpretations of Kane’s work. There is also a theatre critic who stumbles on stage to criticize the absurdity of the performance, which serves as a reminder of the contentious nature of Kane’s critical reception. These elements mean that Sugar Kane has a three-dimensional quality but what is going on on-stage is so messy and includes so much yelling that it takes an exhaustingly long time for any meaning to be established. It could be argued that this is a way to represent the difficult processes of mental illness, but, if so, it is a dull, wearisome method of delivery.
Attempting to make Kane accessible is an ambitious and heavy burden. While they didn't fully succeed, its cast should be given credit for being high-reaching and dynamic.
