Undoing Scotland After Devolution in Liz Lochhead's
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UNDOING SCOTLAND AFTER DEVOLUTION IN LIZ LOCHHEAD’S DRAMATIC ADAPTATIONS OF CLASSICAL TEXTS ON PAGE AND STAGE MINKA PARASKEVOVA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy QUEEN MARGARET UNIVERSITY 2014 Abstract The thesis studies the female voice in the local culture in the post-devolution dramatic adaptations of the Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead. It acknowledges the dramatist’s idiosyncratic approach of fusing poetry and drama in order to question the new internationalist national model in Scotland resembling the main features of anti-colonial nationalisms post 1990s. Central to the thesis is the question of local female voice in the current national debate and whether and to what extent it problematizes the relation between feminism and nationalism in the new civic model introduced after devolution as an internationalist in Scotland. Lochhead’s idiosyncratic voice of a poet and dramatist is interpreted as a non-feminist and non-nationalist with a specific focus on individualised female dramatic representations. The complex semiotic interpretation of the constructed dramatic images by the playwright in her post-devolutionary adaptations of the classics shows a problematic reading of gender difference as cultural identity which appears with distorted features in the political revisions laden with self-satire. She applies metonymic use of female characterisation in order to reflect upon the changes in the cultural, political and linguistic climate, which results in a shift from a post-colonial dramatic discourse to a socio-linguistic one in the understanding of Robin Lakoff about a highly politicised and performative language and identity. The female voice in the local culture is frequently silenced and partially invisible, thus excluded from the political/national debate. However, Lochhead’s subject often re-asserts itself through silent resistance and body visibility to refer to the instability of male political voices and sometimes to ironize their lack of individual identity. Keywords: Scottish Devolution, Liz Lochhead, abjection, the semiotic and chora in Julia Kristeva’s theory, anti-colonial nationalism, post-colonial drama, language war, postfeminism, post-dramatic theatre, feminist aesthetics. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Ksenija Horvat for her enthusiasm, encouragement, constant support and professional help as my Director of Studies. I am indebted also to Dr. Richard Butt, my second supervisor and currently Dean of the Department, for his patience and invaluable advice. A huge thank you for the provided assistance goes to the librarians at Queen Margaret University, the University of Edinburgh (The Special Collections Department) and the Scottish Theatre Archive at the Glasgow University. I am very grateful to all the artists that agreed to be interviewed and their answers to be used in the thesis: director Graham McLaren (theatre babel) and Mike Duffy (Edinburgh Arts Theatre) and actors Lucianne McEvoy, Alison Peebles, Maureen Beattie, Lorna Dixon, Caroline Devlin and Louise Bolton. I would like also to thank my parents for their love, support and belief in me and my wonderful colleagues and friends who never refused to share a meal and occasional glass of wine and help me enlighten any random Ph.D. blues. I am eternally obliged to all others who managed to challenge me professionally and personally and contributed to the development of the current project. ii Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... ii Contents ............................................................................................................... iii Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One ........................................................................................................ 10 Scottish National and Cultural Identities and the Role of Indigenous Theatre .. 10 Chapter Two ....................................................................................................... 41 Nation, Myth and Identity in Scottish Theatre and Drama ................................. 41 Chapter Three ..................................................................................................... 67 Adaptations of the Classics for the Scottish Stage and the Voices of Lochhead 67 Chapter Four ....................................................................................................... 98 Contemporary Cultural Identities and the Abjected Feminine in Medea and Thebans ............................................................................................................... 98 Chapter Five ...................................................................................................... 152 Scots in Performance and Post-colonial Female Bodies in Educating Agnes and Miseryguts ......................................................................................................... 152 Chapter Six ....................................................................................................... 191 Between Carnival and Paranoia: Unbearable Identities in Lochhead’s Adaptation of Three Sisters ................................................................................................. 191 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 228 Appendix ........................................................................................................... 252 Literal translation of L’Escole des Femmes by Ajay Stephen .......................... 252 Endnotes............................................................................................................ 289 iii Introduction The Scottish Parliament re-established after devolution in 1999 revived nationalistic interests in Scotland. The new autonomous state searched for artistic expression of the contemporary cultural climate. Theatre and the political potential of the classics were seen as a rich medium for cultural revisions. Glasgow offered a variety of contemporary readings of Greek tragedies. Theatre babel’s project The Greeks in 2000, supported and funded by the Scottish Government, commissioned three established Scottish playwrights to produce their versions of Oedipus, Medea and Electra. David Greig, Liz Lochhead and Tom MacGrath offered distinct authorial versions. The same year, a new Antigone targeting younger audiences was performed by Glasgow’s TAG theatre. Two years earlier, Maureen Lawrence’s new translation of the same Sophocles’ play was popularised by the Communicado Theatre Company. In all of these classical re-visions Scotland took a central cultural position, as opposed to its previously favoured marginalised national image. The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and its new generation of established and emerging directors built a forum for cultural discussions. David Greig (The Speculator 1999), Peter Arnott (A Little Rain 2000), Iain Heggie (King of Scotland 2000), Sue Glover (Shetland Saga 2000) and Zinnie Harris (Further than the Furthest Thing 2000) are just a few of the involved playwrights. The new writings of the Traverse group were shown in an eclectic topical showcase where the dominant ideas were about national responsibility and maturity. Similarly to many of these contemporary local dramatists, Liz Lochhead took an active part in the cultural revision after Devolution. She produced an alternative version of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters for the Lyceum Theatre in 2000 that followed her artistic path of adaptation from a female point of view. From this period onwards, Lochhead has grown to be a culturally important figure, opening the fourth session of the devolved Scottish Parliament with a recitation of her verse, “Open”. Due to the performance success and popularity of her Medea, she was asked to write a contemporary Scottish-flavoured version of Thebans in 2003. Prior to this, her love for Molière and his rich and dark humoured comedies inspired her to rewrite The Misanthrope in a completely contemporary Scottish setting, touching upon painful political topics. Lochhead further participated 1 in the debates for the founding of a national theatre, which resulted in the 2006 launch of the Scottish National Theatre (SNT). A year later, in 2007, an important political event stirred further the national debates: The Scottish National Party, for the first time in Scottish history, won the Scottish Parliamentary elections. The old rhetoric about Scottish independence was reinforced with the policies of the new government, which encouraged the acquisition of local languages like Gaelic and Scots, and started a project for a Scottish Referendum, which has now been scheduled for September 2014. The appointment of Lochhead as Scots Makar (National Poet for Scotland) in 2011 further increased her cultural engagement with the community and attracted strong public attention to her work as a poet and dramatist. This project aims at studying the role of Lochhead within the context of the national debate after devolution looking at the idea of strong cultural ties and an interest in reflecting the contemporary cultural climate. This thesis studies and evaluates the post-devolution dramatic adaptations of classical