"Victim. Perpetrator. Bystander": Melancholic Witnessing of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis

Abstract

This essay argues that critical emphasis on the autobiographical connections in Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis threatens to oversimplify the play’s wider significance. The essay re-addresses the play, utilizing Freud’s essay “Mourning and Melancholia,” to propose that 4.48’s minimalist form and initial productions encourage melancholic identifications. In conjunction with melancholia, this essay explores recent trauma theory, including the audience’s potential positionings as witnesses. The essay concludes by exposing 4.48’s political critiques, thereby broadening the ramifications of the piece.

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