THIS IS HELL NOR AM I OUT OF IT: RAVENHILL’S PLAYS THE EXPERIMENT AND THE CUT

Abstract

This paper analyses two of Mark Ravenhill’s plays, The Experiment and The Cut, the former dealing with the subjectivity and unreliability of truth, ironically used to justify scientific experiments, and the latter with an unspecified operation, the cut, as allegedly the only way out of a dystopian society. The introductory part offers an overview of the impact of society on one’s personality through the experience of concentration camps as a kind of experiment by V. Frankl, P. Levi and B. Bettelheim. The secret experiments done by the CIA in the 1950s and 1960s, as a continuation of what started in the 1940s, and, although not so well camouflaged by higher purposes, as precursors to modern experiments, were similarly financed by governments and with asimilarly profound toll. The aim is to draw attention to a Ravenhill’s warning of how dangerous the absence of moral values, awareness and responsibility can be, and his belief that there are ethical choices both on stage and in life.