Review: Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Crave falls at an especially delicate time, as I sit inside unable to socialise, Boris has announced our second lockdown. Live theatre has yet again been taken from us. So it felt like I had to savour this performance even more, and what a performance it was to savour. This piece could leave you pondering for days. Sarah Kane’s play has its revival live from the Chichester Festival Theatre, another fragile and nostalgic place in my heart. With commitment from all the cast, designer and director, this heavy script is manifested into a beautiful, cyclical dystopia.

Its structure is chaotic, intense and unsettling but Tinuke Criage’s direction makes every word and movement effortless. It seems there is no, one interpretation of Crave. Is it a purgatory? Is it one character’s trail of fragmented thoughts? Are they alive? Are they strangers? All we know is, they are literally and emotionally unable to move forwards or backwards (thanks to Alex Lowde’s simplistic and yet, powerful set). The poetic verses expose experience of suicide, rape, loss, lust, love, pain and can be unnervingly applicable to the human condition. You’ll either be in awe of the raw acting and dialogue; try to block it out…or you’ll be trying to wrap your head around it. Either way, it’s worth the watch!

Crave was performed at Chichester Festival Theatre until the 7th November. For more information on the show, click here: https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/crave