Blasted feels at times like a laundry list of the most horrific acts a young playwright can conjure. In this production, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, none of it feels like pointless provocation, or empty shock.
David Woods plays Ian, a disillusioned journalist, uncaringly filing recounts of severe trauma and violence. Despite his cynical boasts, Ian maintains a safe distance from actual suffering. He is physically and emotionally abusive, but his power plays are pathetic and plainly rooted in self-loathing and cowardice. Woods instils the character with just enough humanity that we care when his posturing and nihilism are confronted with true horror.
Cate, as played by Eloise Mignon, is much younger. She maintains a playful innocence in the face of all that life has thrown at her, including Ian. Cate is mostly disabused of this spirit over the course of the play, though even by the end we see it in small gestures of kindness and warmth.
Taking place entirely in a hotel room, little about the play's larger context is spelled out. Although the destructive dynamic between Cate and Ian is established almost immediately, the details of their shared history slowly unfurl over the first couple of acts. These characters are damaged in ways that are both compatible and deeply conflicting. Plenty is left unexplained, for us to infer from body language and tossed-off insults.
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A third character, an unnamed soldier played by Fayssal Bazzi, doesn't enter until the second half but he makes an indelible impact and his presence is felt throughout. The soldier describes reprehensible war crimes before committing a few more before our eyes. The increasingly, unrelentingly bleak second half makes the first act feel like a quirky romantic comedy in comparison.
The play makes excellent use of its small stage, as the room and its inhabitants are decimated over the course of the play. It offers an unflinching look at violence on every scale and the weakness at its core, yet Kane's prosaic dialogue contains glimmers of hope and humour amid the darkness.
Although it was written in 1995, Blasted feels prescient, speaking directly to this cultural moment. Its themes of trauma, bigotry, war and sexual assault are depressingly, perennially relevant to almost any moment in almost any culture. Audiences will leave this powerful play with varying degrees of confusion and distress, but few people will leave untouched.
Blasted plays Malthouse Theatre till 16 Sep
