Sarah Kane's "4.48 Psychosis'

What a tour de force. I came out of the theater feeling emotionally drenched with sweat from Sarah Kane's "4.48 Psychosis," which the Royal Court Theater is touring around America. In a New York Times profile of Kane, who completed this play not long before she committed suicide, her brother noted that he wanted the Royal COurt's production to be the first version American audiences saw of Kane's play (her other works are popular in colleges) and it's easy to see why.

Raw is not quite large enough a word to describe the fractured narrative, in which a single mind seems to be personified by three aspects, played by Jason Hughes, Marin Ireland, and an unbelievably affecting Jo McInnes.

The title of the play refers to the hour of the wolf when suicides often occur -- in the dark hours of the morning when life problems look the worst and most insurmountable. Far from being incoherent ravings of a madwoman, though, the monologues of 4.48 reveal the interior of an intensely intelligent, deeply feeling person.

Special kudos go to the production designers, Jeremy Herbert and Nigel Edwards, and also director James MacDonald, who bring the play to the stage with flair. Through a giant reflective canopy stretched overhead, and proections, both video and sound, we see fragments of a persona from all directions at once, creating compelling images that will stay in my mind for a long time.