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https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] REVISIONIST MYTHMAKING IN CONTEMPORARY WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS by EMANUELA PONTI A dissertation submitted in part requirement for the MPhil Theatre by Research University of Glasgow Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies September 2005 ProQuest Number: 10390522 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10390522 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 (GLASGOW 1 I f " "yrncTTy f ABSTRACT The following dissertation studies the way in which Timberlake Wertenbaker, Sarah Kane and Liz Lochhead revise classical myth in the plays The Love of the Nightingale (1988), Phaedra’s Love (1994) and Medea (2001), Starting from an idea of revision as a ‘fresh perspective’ on the past legacy, the thesis exploits textual and performance analysis to point out the three playwrights’ main intents and results. Especially focusing on the gender and spatial dynamics working in the plays, the study highlights the figures of Philomele, Phaedra and Medea and, where possible, their ‘new’ and unprecedented characterization. Great importance is also given to the language and to the metatheatricality of the works, since both play a very important part in the three revisions. Language is usually a tool to provide the heroines with ‘a dissident idiom’ and to establish a stronger link with the present. Metatheatricality, on the contrary, seems to entrap the female characters into the myth and prevents them from fully breaking the hold of the past on them. Reflecting on the dynamics of audience reception, the dissertation also underlines the relevance of classical myth to our times as well as its still problematic nature. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.................................................................................................. p. 6 Chapter 1: The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker ... p. 13 I: The story of the m yth p. 13 LI: A cultural and linguistic clash............................................................... p. 16 II: The figure of Philomele p. 20 II. 1; The rape and the silencing................................................... p. 23 II.2; The role of the mature w om an........................................................... p. 30 III: The active part of theatre and m yth.......................................................p. 33 IV: The two Choruses................................................................................. p. 38 Chapter 2: Phaedra’s Love by Sarah K ane............................................. p. 43 I: Masculinity centre stage......................................................................... p. 43 II: The choice of Seneca and the Phaedra myth p. 46 III: The figure of Phaedra p. 49 III.l: The amorous catastrophe.................................................................. p. 55 III.2: The psychological rap e..................................................................... p. 60 IV: The question of ‘faith’ .......................................................................... p. 66 V: The outburst of the plague.................................................................. p. 69 Chapter 3: Medea by Liz Lochhead....................................................... p. 76 I: The reasons for a revision p. 76 II: The ‘subversive’ use of Scots............................................................ p. 81 III: The figure of M edea............................................................................ p. 89 III.l: The comic device............................................................................ p. 92 III.2: Medea as ‘mother’ and ‘rival in love’ p. 97 IV: The ‘villain’ Jason............................................................................... p. 103 V: The metatheatre as a ‘trap’ p. 107 Conclusion................................................................................................ p. Il l Bibliography.............................................................................................. p.118 ‘Listen. This is the noise of myth. It makes the same sound as shadow. Can you hear it?’ (Eavan Boland, The Journey) I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it----- A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade. My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen. Peel off the napkin O my enemy. Do I teiTify?----- Yes, yes Herr Professor It is I. [...] Dying Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call. It's easy enough to do it in a cell. It's easy enough to do it and stay put. It's the theatrical Comeback in broad day To the same place, the same face, the same bmte Amused shout: 'A miracle!' [...] Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware Beware. Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air. (Sylvia Plath, Lady Lazarus) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the result of a year of postgraduate study in the TFTS Department of Glasgow University. It follows a fruitful period of cultural and personal improvement and hopes to lay the foundation for successful future studies. I would like to thank Dr. P.A. Skantze, who supervised my work with great patience, enthusiasm and precious advice throughout the year. Prof. Margaret Rose and Prof. Anna Anzi of Milan University deserve my heartfelt thank, since without their help and encouragement this adventure would have never been possible. My gratitude goes also to Prof. Jan MacDonald and Dr. Matthew Cohen, who generously guided my first steps in the department. Once again, this work is dedicated to Comelio, Nadia, Giuseppe and Micol, my beloved and much missed family. Your practical and emotional support has always helped me and ‘restored’ my self-confidence in moments of bad mood and disappointment. I hope the dissertation will somehow recompense you for my being far from home for so long and I know I will never thank you enough for the opportunity you gave me. Friends in Italy deserve my gratitude too, for having accepted and encouraged my choice. I want to thank Lorenza for being so close to me since the first day of our Liceo, reminding her that physical distance cannot weaken the strength and value of our friendship. Thanks to Eleonora, Valeria and Lele for their enthusiasm about my studies and overall support. I am grateful to Emanuele for his help throughout last year and wish him all the happiness he deserves. Thanks to the friends in Glasgow too, wonderful ‘machines’ (!) with whom it is a pleasure to share cheerful moments. And finally, I am thankful to Mark for having read and corrected (almost all!) the following pages. INTRODUCTION The need for revision and rewriting of masterpieces of the past has always been strong among writers of every age. This sort of ‘necrophilia’ has been justified in various ways: for instance, it can be a means to take a rest from one’s personal artistic demons and to compete with the classics. It can be a tool to verify whether the voices of the past are still able to speak to a contemporary audience. It can also prove to be a successful ‘commercial’ strategy, since relying on a famous work or on popular characters can undoubtedly attract the interest of both readers and spectators. Modern and especially post-modern artists make use of the revisionist practice with a high degree of self-consciousness. They perceive a clear division with a past reputed as ‘different’ from their own reality, while at the same time deeply engaging with it. Tampering with linguistic, rhetoric and thematic elements used by previous writers, authors usually revise with the aim of questioning the traditional epistemological relationship between subject and reality.* In dispute with a totalising vision of the world, these artists avail themselves of devices such as pastiche and crossover to express their own heterogeneous idea of the world. ^ Free from any restrictions, post-modern aesthetics welcomes various sources of inspiration and mixes together apparently irreconcilable issues, to make discontinuity and juxtaposition its emblem. It uses myth to give its work a sort of external and artificial unity, though aware of facing a fragmentary