History Theatre / Cleansed

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Tinker tries to masturbate to a peepshow dancer, but can't quite manage it.

''Cleansed'' is the third play of Creator/SarahKane, first performed in 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs - ''Theatre/Blasted'' opened in the same venue, only upstairs.

* DrugsAreBad: In the first scene Tinker is presented as a dealer and deals Graham a fix after he requests to want out which kills him.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tinker has the peepshow dancer.
* IncestSubtext: In the play it is implies in the text that [[spoiler:Grace and Graham]] were lovers and possible suggests that the play is [[spoiler:Grace's treatment in a mental hospital]].
* KarmaHoudini: Tinker, his staff and the Peep Show girl get away with it.
* {{Minimalism}}: Averted as the play forces the limitations of live theatre with Rats carrying off [[spoiler:Carl's limbs]] and Sunflowers growing on the stage.

* PlotTriggeringDeath: Graham's death brings Grace to the hellhole.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Well [[spoiler:Grace puts on Graham's clothes]] and collapses. Could it be that the [[spoiler:the whole play]] is the sign of a [[spoiler:mental decline of Grace]].
* TongueTrauma: [[spoiler:Tinker]] cuts out [[spoiler:Carl's]] tongue it doesn't get better.
* ShoutOut: Sarah Kane was very open about the sources, the play was based on:
** The name came from Aristotle who talked of Theatre cleansing the audience of unwelcome emotions.
** The concept came to Sarah after reading A Lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes where he claims rejected love not unlike the situation of a prisoner in Dachau, Sarah was appalled but realised that it's a loss of self and where can the person will go if not to madness.
** [[spoiler:Carl's]] torture by impalement really happened in the Bosnian Genocide.
** The scenes with the flowers and chocolates are taken from Freud talks about sexuality.
** The iconic line "Love me or kill me" is taken from Theatre/TisPityShesAWhore, which might help towards [[spoiler:the incest subtext above]].

Cleansed is the third play of Creator/SarahKane, it was first performed in 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, the same location that Theatre/{{Blasted}} opened at the Upstairs.

Just like Blasted Cleansed is filled with the trademark of gore and serious themes that Sarah was well known for, basing it on works she had read like A Lover's Discourse, [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]] and Theatre/{{Woyzeck}}.

The plot tells of a so called university to rid the world of the undesired, run by the sadistic Tinker who tortures the people within, Grace arrives after hearing of her twin brother's death, only to be admitted and played with by Tinker.

The Play received a cooler reception in the UK however it's considered Sarah's best in Europe.

!!The Play contains the following Tropes:

* AmbiguousEnding: The ending has Grace and Carl sitting on stage [[spoiler:both mutilated]] and while [[spoiler:Grace]] is happy [[spoiler:thanking Tinker]] Carl is [[spoiler:silently crying without any limbs]] and the sun comes out. But is any of it really real?
* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: First off fans of Kane belive that Tinker was named after Jack Tinker whose review of Blasted is still quoted but nothing exists to prove this.
** Kane claimed the storyline of [[spoiler:Robin]] was based on a man imprisoned with Nelson Mandela who was in jail for 45 years, due to being illiterate he didn't understand the length until the other prisoners taught him to count and he hung himself [[spoiler:like Robin does]]. However no evidence exist of such a person.
* BecomingTheMask: Throughout the play Grace is dressed in Graham (her brother's) clothes and imagines him speaking to her, when Robin speaks to her Graham overlaps and by the end Graham is gone [[spoiler:Grace is given a sex change]] as she has become him.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Rod and Carl is mostly dead]].
* ButtMonkey: Robin is this to Tinker, he is forced to wear Grace's dress, when he tries to learn to write, Tinker rips his notebook and when he tries to woo Grace with Chocolates Tinker forces him to eat them. Near the end [[spoiler:he kills himself]].

* CreatorCameo: Kane played Grace in the last three performances due to the actress injuring herself.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Tinker tries to get off to the peepshow dancer and fails.

** First off the play is seen as a loose squeal to Blasted.

** During [[spoiler:Carl's]] torture scene, the lines are close to Winston's torture in 1984.
*** Keeping with 1984 could Tinker ease dropping mean he's like Big Brother.
** Sarah claimed that the play's structure was based on Woyzeck, a play she had directed a year before.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: Level 10 [[note]] Onstage rape with a pole and severing of hands, tongue, and feet; offstage severing of genitals[[/note]].

** The iconic line "Love me or kill me" is taken from Theatre/TisPityShesAWhore, which might help towards [[spoiler:the incest subtext above]].

* BasedOnAGreatLie: First off fans of Kane belive that Tinker was named after Jack Tinker whose review of Blasted is still quoted but nothing exists to prove this.

* BasedOnATrueLie: First off fans of Kane belive that Tinker was named after Jack Tinker whose review of Blasted is still quoted but nothing exists to prove this.

* PlotDrivingDeath: Graham's death brings Grace to the hellhole.

** The scene with the flowers and chocolates are taken from Freud.

* TongueTrauma: [[spoiler:Tinker]] cuts out [[spoiler:Carl's]] tongue it doesn't get better.

** During [[spoiler:Carl's]] torture scene, the lines are close to Winston's torture in 1984.

*

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Rod and Carl is mostly dead]].

Cleansed is the third play of Creator/SarahKane, it was first performed in 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, the same location that Theatre/Blasted opened at the Upstairs.

!!The Play contains the following Tropes:

Just like Blasted Cleansed is filled with the trademark of gore and serious themes that Sarah was well known for, basing it on works she had read like A Lover's Discourse, [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]] and Theatre/Woyzeck.

The plot tells of a so called university to rid the world of the undesired, run by the sadistic Tinker who tortures the people within, Grace arrives after hearing of her twin brother's death, only to be admitted and played with by Tinker.