Blasted

Sarah Kane's play Blasted was the most talked-about play of the past decade, but not many people saw it when I originally directed it in 1995.

It's about a ludicrously ill-matched couple in a hotel room in Leeds: an unlovable revolting slob - a raddled, middle-aged tabloid hack (played by Neil Dudgeon) - and his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend (Kelly Reilly). At the time it created a kerfuffle, but it's very funny and life-affirming. Also her last play, 4.48 Psychosis, was buried in the events surrounding her death. We wanted audiences to have the chance to make their own minds up about her work.

People think the plays are dark and cynical, but actually Sarah was a full-on 19th-century Romantic with an obsession about love - the idea that only love will save the world, and if you can't love you can't live.

She was a theatre poet, somebody who talked through images as much as language. She wanted you to experience something emotionally before you experienced it intellectually. That's why people react to her work so strongly. It hits you in the gut before it hits you in the head. In fact, her plays hit you in the gut so hard that you don't use your head until afterwards.

She was a witty, charming person. I didn't think of her as depressive. In rehearsals we'd be slaving away at unmentionable acts the actors have to perform - buggery and what have you - and she'd be more concerned with getting the punctuation right.

She was an Essex girl and she would get very cross: "I'll kill 'im if he doesn't do that comma." She was absolutely scrupulous about writing. Now, if I err on that count, I've got her brother in rehearsals. He's every bit as vigilant as she was.