Unlimited passion: the opposing schools of stage violence in Shakespeare and Kane

William Shakespeare and Sarah Kane are playwrights who for drastically different reasons have left indelible impacts upon the theatrical world. A key factor in each of their plays is the presentation of violence. Shakespeare uses violence for observable, orthodox reasons of driving the plot forward, while Kane uses it for sensory effect, social commentary, and for subverting traditional narrative expectations. This study examines how violence and fighting work as dramaturgical tools in these playwrights’ work, by individual examination, juxtaposition, and the use of other pieces of drama to inform these two differing schools of theatrical violence.