About the work
Cleansed (German: Gesäubert) is a play by the British playwright Sarah Kane, told in twenty terse scenes. It was directed in its premiere by James Macdonald on 30 April 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre in London; the German-language premiere followed on 12 December 1998 at the Hamburger Kammerspiele, directed by Peter Zadek, in a German version by Elisabeth Plessen, Nils Tabert and Zadek himself.
Plot
On the fenced grounds of a former university, which the sadistic Tinker has turned into a kind of reformatory, seven people try to hold on to love and identity under torture, drugs and violence. Among them are the siblings Grace and Graham, a gay couple, and a dancer whose body and gender increasingly merge over the course of the play. The play closes on a fragile moment of comfort amid the devastation.
Cultural significance
Kane's drastic stage directions for torture and mutilation provoked divided, at times outraged reactions at the premiere; since then, "Cleansed" has come to be regarded by many internationally as one of her most significant plays, radically probing the limits of what can be shown on stage.