For my Pechakucha presentation of Blasted by Sarah Kane, I did an overall summation of the plot and characters involved in the show. Through this summary, I focused on the theme of power and how power shifts throughout the show. I also talked about how I would adapt the show for the screen.
At the beginning of the show, Ian and Cate have a clear power dynamic where Ian holds all of the power and Cate is being dominated by him. Since Ian is a dying man he acts as if he has nothing to lose and feels no remorse for the way he treats others. He also holds himself in high regard because of his race and gender. Ian brandishes a revolver during the first half of the show and I would say that it’s a physical representation of his power and control.
In scene two a soldier disrupts this initial power relationship by storming into the room with his own rifle and subduing Ian. At this point, Cate has escaped the room through the bathroom window leaving only Ian and the soldier. I want to mention that in the show, only two people are ever interacting at once which ties into the theme of power. In each scene, there is someone who holds the power and someone who is at the will of the other.
The soldier proceeds to rape Ian and eat his eyes. This is a direct connection to when Ian raped Cate and can be seen as an “eye for an eye” scenario. Now Ian is at the will of the soldier and the power dynamic has flipped 180. The soldier then kills himself leaving Ian crippled and alone. Cate returns with a baby and Ian argues with her about what to do with it. Once again Ian, even at his weakest, tries to establish his dominance over Cate. In the final scene, Cate is seen feeding Ian as he seemingly dies. This is the moment when Ian finally accepts help from Cate and relinquishes control of the relationship.
In my adaptation of Blasted, I want it to be made for screen because I feel like a show with such visceral events can be shown to its full extent using CGI and post-production effects. I also want to have multiple directors for this production because I feel like having multiple sources of creativity would allow for different elements of the show to be focused on in each scene. By pitching the adaptation to a company such as HBO, none of the content will be censored and it can be viewed as intended: the jarring reality of war and death.
Hello Keelan, I really appreciated that you provided a quick summary of your presentation first, it really helps the reader follow along. Also, I completely agree with your take on how there is a very powerful power switch in the middle of the play. I think that is what really makes this play and keeps you wanting to read it, even though it is very gruesome. I also found it very interesting and powerful that you connected Ian losing his eyes to the saying "eye for an eye" and that it was payback for what he did to Cate. Awesome job.
Hi Keelan, I agree that putting the presentation offers a lot of advantages, one of them being it's capacity for depicting violence. I think Blasted would preform quite well as an indie film through HBO. However, one of the reasons I love Blasted as a work of theatre is the intimacy between the viewer and the atrocities that occurring on the stage, which puts the spectator in a real-time in situ act of witnessing, which I think can be incredibly impactful for the spectator. I don't think there's a right or a wrong way to think about producing the play--I think producing Blasted as a play or a film are equally valid, I just wanted to share why I liked…
Keelan I really liked how you gave a profound character information and play summary. Your analysis in the shift in power was the greatest take of the play that I really missed. The Images you chose really helped and visualized your presentation. Good production take and I agree, there is much more that You can get away with in film being a movie or a show that can easily be commercialized and getting it ‘out there’. Great presentation.