4.48 Psychosis

This work is the last play by Sarah Kane, the controversial contemporary British playwright, who died aged 28 in February 1999. A single voice, dragged through therapy and endless medication, reveals the true experience of clinical depression.

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This student edition presents both the text of the play with explanatory commentary and notes, helping readers and performers understand this last play by controversial playwright Sarah Kane.


4.48 Psychosis is a tough, sparse and moving work and is full of energy and beauty in spite of its bleak themes. The play sees the ultimate narrowing of Sarah Kane's focus in her work. The struggle of the self to remain intact has moved in her work from civil war, into the family, into the couple, into the individual, and finally into the theatre of phychosis: the mind itself. A single voice, dragged through therapy and endless medication, reveals the true experience of clinical depression.


This play was written in 1999 shortly before the playwright took her own life at age 28. On the page, the piece looks like a poem. No characters are named, and even their number is unspecified. It could be a journey through one person's mind, or an interview between a doctor and his patient.


This Student Edition features full supporting notes to help the student reader or performer understand this influential and challenging work.