ABSTRACT
The premieres of Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill respective main stage debuts in England are already the stuff of domestic theatrical legend: Blasted opens on 12 January 1995, at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs to near-universal condemnation. As such, it is ironic to note that Ravenhill, along with Kane, besides having written some of the most influential plays of the late nineties – plays which beyond their productions, both in Britain and beyond, continued to inspire a generation of playwrights across Europe – quickly outgrew pretty much every label with which he was initially landed. Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill were quickly identified as radical new voices in British playwriting, but it was their work in Europe that marks their true influence. Their deployment of new violent intensities in their early work offered an experiential picture of a culture out of balance that resonated across the continent, though, as we have seen, in different ways in different cultures.
