Phaedra's Love
by Sarah Kane
director & dramaturg Julián Fuentes Reta
lighting Andrew Lake
set CDV & Andrew Lake
stage manager & producer Richard Seidel
cast Caitlin McCloughlin, Mischa Ipp, Maitland Schnaars, Luke Ryan
PICA Perth
Corazon de Vaca 2007
The main features of the set for this production were two large rectangular sheets of glass suspended in the middle of the stage, which were smeared with diluted paint at different points in the show by the performers. This allowed projected images to be visible from both sides (audience were seated around the stage) and created a translucent effect.
♫ audio track: painful awareness by dydjej_inja
A radical reworking of Senecaasdas's classical tragedy of incest and unrequited love, 'Phaedra's Love' (first performed at the Gate Theatre, London, 1996) is a provocative interpretation of a woman's destructive obsession with her stepson and the misery that ensues. Kane drags the story kicking and wailing into the twenty-first century, presenting an unflinching examination of our societal fascination with sex, violence and celebrity.