English playwright Sarah Kane was BOTD in 1971. Born in Essex, she studied drama at Bristol University and playwriting at the University of Birmingham. Her first play, Blasted, was performed at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1995. A harrowing tale of an abusive heterosexual relationship set in wartime, its depiction of rape, torture and cannibalism was highly controviersial. Kane was savagely attacked in the tabloid press, but defended by playwrights Edward Bond (author of the similarly-themed play Saved), Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill, who praised her dramatic conflation of domestic violence and sexual war crimes. Newly-crowned as the enfant terrible of British theatre, Kane received a number of commissions for further plays, including Phaedra’s Love, a modern version of Seneca’s tragedy; Cleansed; Crave and 4.48 Psychosis. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1995 short film Skin, depicting a violent relationship between a Black woman and a racist white skinhead. Notable for her stripped-back stage directions, lyrical dialogue and nihilistic view of sexual desire and gender warfare, Kane’s work developed cult followings in Europe, Australia and South America, though is seldom performed in the UK. Openly lesbian since her teens, little is known about Kane’s relationship history. She struggled with depression for much of her life, and was frequently hospitalised following a number of suicide attempts. She committed suicide during a hospital stay in 1999, aged 28. Now considered one of the major British playwrights of the 20th century, her fans include the French actress Isabelle Huppert, who has performed several of her plays.