Sarah Kane - Blasted Extract







Whilst I was rehearsing my monologue, I experimented with different intonations and emphasis and tried a range of emotions behind certain points in the speech. I felt that since his character has seen and committed unspeakable things, he would be unlikely to get upset in a choked-up way when he was talking about what happened to Col as it seems he's had a lot of time to come to terms with it and has thought about it a lot. Therefore I felt that section would be more of an angry tone as this event is what fuels his desire for revenge and the cruelty he talks about in his scene. Yet there could still be an element of pain for him when he remembers it as it was undoubtedly a traumatic experience, so I tried to incorporate that too.

1st run through of monologue

Just before he says to "tell them you saw me", the Soldier says how when he goes home, "it's like it never happened"; I thought about how this is a kind of paradox for the Soldier as, in a way, it might be a comfort in that his crimes don't plague him when he goes home and that's how I played it initially, but also this section for me is him lamenting how his actions make no difference to the wider world and what he and his fellow soldiers do to individuals doesn't matter to anyone, so there's also a sense of that frustration that comes through too.


Run with the thought of it being "like it never happened" as a source of frustration rather than comfort

Similarly with the appeal at the end, I feel like there is a sense of desperation at this point for the Soldier to have some meaning in his life, for what has happened to him and what he's done to not just be another story about a faceless and nameless soldier in a distant conflict, but to make it matter and make it important by telling Ian and the audience to remember him as a real person. It also could be said as a bit of an afterthought as he realises that he could leave some kind of legacy, or a challenge to Ian to 'man-up' and take responsibility as a journalist and tell the truth.


In this run the appeal at the end seems more desperate and genuine. I'm not sure if that fits with his character - perhaps if there was a little more venom behind it it would be more effective and give the impression that he is bitter and desperate but is refusing to show any weakness and this is a hint of him showing his true feelings and weakness that he masks with the bravado and atrocities he commits.

 I also played about with the lines around "you don't know fuck all about me". I initially read this as another challenge against Ian/the audience, almost as if he is aware he's being judged and angrily responds by talking about the normalities of his life before it was torn apart by this conflict. By stating that he "went to school" and "made love to Col", he reminds us that he is just a man, and that he did not always intend to do these horrible things. I also tried it with a similar light-hearted, conversational tone that also juxtaposes with the tone if the scene, like he's introducing himself to Ian/the audience before bringing them back to the harsh reality of his life with the murder of his lover.


I quite liked the way that making the Soldier more conversational when he was talking about the awful things made him even more unsettling and unpleasant. This tone implies he doesn't really care. After I'd tried this tone here I wanted to try it with the start to see how it altered the feel of the speech.

The first section can be interpreted in a number of ways too; initially I intoned it with a kind of sadistic revelry from the Soldier as he 'smiles' and recounts another story of extreme violence. I also tried it with a kind of mocking tone, as in the context of the scene this is the point where Ian says he is a soldier too and the Soldier challenges him almost, inviting him to prove he is real soldier and testing his response, like he's setting the scene for Ian and walking him through it. It could be delivered in a more light-hearted tone that juxtaposes completely with what is being said and makes it all the more disturbing.

The first time I tried it I don't think I quite got it right, it was somewhere in between the two ways I'd thought of delivering the lines and I also lost the more offhand way he says you don't know me.


I tried doing it again and I think this was more successful as I carried the same tone through the whole of the opening lines which felt more real. I'm not sure if it flowed, however, into the next section about Col - maybe if that section too was more detached and conversational it would have be more effective, and also more shocking as he would seem to have no emotional connection to either his lover nor the crimes he committed.


Altering these small sections and using different combinations changed the feel of the whole monologue and I wanted to balance his anger and bitterness with that disturbing, conversational way he talks about this extreme events and not making his appeal at the end too emotional as that is not what I feel his character is. Each time I did it it was slightly different, not just in the sections I've focused on but in how intensely I said different lines, how my facial expressions and gestures changed and where they occurred. Each time I improvised something new I'd watch it back and see whether it worked and decide if I wanted to reproduce it or not.


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