Preview: Crave

September 30 to October 2, October 6-8, 7:30 p.m.

Loeb Experimental Theater

Directed by Nasir W. Husain ’12

Produced by Danielle N. Drees ’12

British playwright Sarah Kane’s works are notorious for being graphic and explicitly outlined. “Crave” is a break from that mode of theatricality. Not even genders or ages of characters are given to the director, leaving the field wide open to interpretation. Kane’s “Crave” is centered on four characters referred to only by initials.

Despite the ambiguity of physical and biographical information, each character introduces complex facets of human nature into the play through their dialogue and painfully visible emotions. The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of “Crave” differs from past productions in that the characters take more active roles on stage in order to illustrate the depths of their sentiments.

“All of our characters sort of try to work through love and in the end see despair in all its different ways,” says Emily B. Hyman ’13, a Crimson magazine comper. She plays M, a woman nearing the end of her childbearing years who is desperate to raise a child. In the course of the play, she renews a relationship with a previous lover in order to achieve these ends.

Far from idealizing love, “Crave” is about the trials and suffering that are inherently a part of relationships. Renewed devastation is one of the most powerful themes of the performance. “‘Crave’ is about relationships and the things that preclude you [from] relationships,” says director Nasir W. Husain ’12.

For both the audience and the actors, “Crave” is an emotionally raw and powerful experience. Although hardly an hour in length, the “actors are really emotionally exhausted at the end of performing each run,” says Husain. The play delves into the taboos that exist in everyday life and presents the dilemma of how to react towards the sufferings of the characters.

“Even though these characters have attributes that we would criticize in real life, they are people and they go through these incredibly real experiences. It’s hard not to feel for them,” says actor Philip M. Gillen ’13.