It's taken 13 years for the late Sarah Kane's
Blasted to reach New York -- and Soho Rep's first-rate production, helmed by artistic director Sarah Benson, confirms the piece's reputation as an audacious work seemingly designed for those theatergoers able to withstand an assault on the senses and emotions. When this shockfest debuted in the U.K., it heralded the arrival of an important new voice for the theater, even as it stunned audiences and critics with its depiction of the violence that people can visit on one another.

The play begins in a room at a swank boutique hotel (rendered beautifully by scenic designer Louisa Thompson) where Ian (Reed Birney), a bigoted, alcoholic, and sexually[...]