4.48 Psychosis (Methuen Modern Plays)

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We were very worried about creating the right context,” remembers Ian Rickson, then artistic director. It felt like we had a responsibility to give breath and life to this amazing thing that Sarah had created. It was her last work, first staged at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on 23 June 2000, directed by James Macdonald, nearly one and a half years after Kane's death on 20 February 1999. Certain images are repeated within the script, particularly that of "hatch opens, stark light"; a repeated motif in the play is " serial sevens" which involves counting down from one hundred by sevens, a bedside test often used by psychiatrists to test for loss of concentration or memory. In the arts, we are so used to discourses on mental health being measured, subtle or expressed only in parts that any deviation seems out of the mould, ambitious or risky.

Psychosis heralds a break with all theatrical conventions–the play reads more like a poem, without character distinctions or stage directions –and even presents much of Kane’s personal medical history–her struggle with antidepressants, suicidal tendencies and her philosophical wrestling with the idea of mortality.

A sequence of elliptical fragments, fractured and emotionally lacerating, it apparently portrayed a mind in the throes of breakdown, raging against doctors who do not (or will not) understand.

The other two stages — “realising that her depression is more serious than what it looks like” and “worried about figuring out how to get through it” — are essayed by actors Durga Venkatesan and Yeshaswini Channaiah respectively. She understands theatre at such a deep level; in some ways I don’t think we’ve caught up with her yet.Echoing similar thoughts, Shatarupa says, “There were days when I would have to take a break after the rehearsals and probably engage in some mundane and mindless things just to take my attention off the script. In 2003, there was a successful staging in Brazil, which played to a full house for six consecutive months in São Paulo, and also gained media attention for its defying gender aspect, as the role was performed by male actor Luiz Päetow.

Psychosis until now – “I’ve never been the greatest fan of the press,” he says dryly when we meet for coffee – but has pondered the play long and hard. is infinitely more than a suicide note: “People take her story on and then they infuse her work with that: I find that really frustrating.

Obviously, it isn’t an easy watch for the audience either, as there is a constant sense of distress and discomfort among all. The first such adaptation of Kane's works, the production was approved by Sarah Kane's brother, and received critical acclaim.