The Shift in the (Feminist) Discourse as Reflected in the Plays of the 1980s and 1990s by British Women Playwrights

Mgr. Petra Kalavská, Ph.D.

Doctoral thesis

Abstract:

Disertační práce se zabývá ženským dramatem 80. a 90. let 20. století, propojuje dvě generace a poukazuje na posun feministického diskursu. Práce důkladně analyzuje osm děl britských dramatiček. Čtyři hry napsaly na počátku 80. let autorky, jež se později staly předními představitelkami ženského dramatu. Zatímco Top Girls (1982) a Fen (1983) od Caryl Churchill (1938) spadají do socialistického feminismu, Ripen Our Darkness (1981) a Masterpieces (1983) od Sarah Daniels (1957) charakterizují argumenty radikálního feminismu. Další čtyři hry pocházejí z pera mladší generace, která začala tvořit v 90. letech a patří do tzv. „in-yer-face“ divadla. Jedná se o Ashes and Sand (1994) a Sunspots (1995) od Judy Upton (1967) a Essex Girls (1994) a Yard Gal (1998) od Rebeccy Prichard (1971). Práce poukazuje na nové formy a styly, do kterých britské feministické autorky zasazují nová témata a které jim umožňují přezkoumat údajně strnulé struktury a tradiční realismus. Práce se snaží demonstrovat, že britské feministické drama 80. let reaguje na výzvu Hélène Cixous, aby se ženy nenechaly od psaní odradit a aby jejich tvorba byla specificky ženská. Rozbory naznačují, že dramatický styl koresponduje s povahou hry. Dílo Judy Upton a Rebeccy Prichard se podstatně liší od feministického, tj. politického, dramatu 80. let, a to nejen obsahem ale i formou. Práce zdůrazňuje, že divadelní hry Rebeccy Prichard a Judy Upton jsou implicitně politické a že se vymezují vůči postfeministickému trendu v britské společnosti 90. let. Zatímco Caryl Churchill a Sarah Daniels se v rozebíraných hrách snaží distancovat od realistického dramatu, které údajně věznilo ženy v neohebných formách a rolích, Upton a Prichard se nepokouší formálně vymezit a nezdůrazňují subverzivní elementy, s nimiž pracuje britské feministické divadlo.

Abstract:

The dissertation concentrates on a cross-generational analysis of women’s drama written in the 1980s and 1990s, and explores a shift in the (feminist) discourse as reflected in the plays by British women playwrights. The thesis studies eight plays which achieved mainstream success and which were first performed in British theatres that at the time promoted new work. Four of the plays chosen for analysis were written at the beginning of the 1980s by the dramatists who were influenced by feminist discourses and who emerged as leading feminist playwrights in Britain: While Caryl Churchillʼs (1938) Top Girls (1982) and Fen (1983) can be labelled as socialist/materialist feminist plays, Sarah Danielsʼs (1957) Ripen Our Darkness (1981) and Masterpieces (1983) examine and promote radical/cultural feminist politics. Four other plays chosen were written in the 1990s by the younger generation of women who can be called female representatives of in-yer-face theatre: Ashes and Sand (1994) and Sunspots (1995) by Judy Upton (1967) and Essex Girls (1994) and Yard Gal (1998) by Rebecca Prichard (1971). The thesis explores new forms and styles in which feminist dramatists imbed new themes and which enable them to re-examine the putatively rigid structures and thus fragment classic realism. Despite the fact that the plays by the younger generation are subtly feminist and implicitly political, the dissertation strives to establish a cross-generational bridge between the playwriting of the 1980s and the 1990s and explains that the work by the younger generation can be studied in the context of women’s drama. The dissertation proposes that the theatrical style corresponds with the character of the plays. Unlike Caryl Churchill and Sarah Daniels, who re-examine male dominated realism which imprisons women in rigid roles, Prichard and Upton do not break realism as systematically since for them realism no longer seems to be connected with male domination. Prichard and Upton do not employ subversive strategies as scrupulously and explicitly as did Churchill and Daniels in the 1980s.

Keywords

contemporary British women playwrights, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Daniels, Rebecca Prichard, Judy Upton, feminism, postfeminism, feminist drama, současné britské dramatičky, feminismus, postfeminismus, feministické drama

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 20. 10. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 31. 1. 2018
• Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc.
• Reader: Mgr. Ivan Lacko, PhD., prof. PhDr. Bohuslav Mánek, CSc.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Doctoral programme / field:
Philology (4-years) / Literatures in English