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Diplomarbeit CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „The Plays of Andrew Bovell“ Verfasserin Mag. Elisabeth Bergauer angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2011 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin: o. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik Acknowledgements First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor, O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik. Not only was my topic inspired by one of her very interesting seminars, but she also gave helpful advice and her suggestions and comments on my work were insightful and encouraging. Equally, I want to thank my mother Elisabeth for her emotional and financial support. Without her, I would not have been able to pursue my studies. I will be eternally grate- ful for her belief in me and for never letting me down. I also want to thank my friends and family for all their help and encouragement. My special thanks go to my partner Werner who encouraged me in my plans and whose continuous support enabled me to stay focused on my thesis. Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 ANDREW BOVELL’S LIFE AND CAREER ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 WORKS CHOSEN FOR MY THESIS ..................................................................................................... 4 1.3 CRITICAL RECEPTION .................................................................................................................... 11 2 THEATRE BACKGROUND: OUTLINE OF AUSTRALIAN DRAMA SINCE THE 1950S ... 15 3 DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE ............................................................................................................. 22 3.1 TIME ............................................................................................................................................. 22 3.1.1 Shifts in time ......................................................................................................................... 22 3.1.2 Memories and flashbacks ..................................................................................................... 29 3.2 PLACE ........................................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Shifts in space ....................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.2 Defined and undefined space ............................................................................................... 34 3.3 ACTION ......................................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.1 Simultaneity .......................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.2 Repetition ............................................................................................................................. 41 3.3.3 Coincidences and chance meetings ...................................................................................... 45 4 GENRE ............................................................................................................................................... 47 5 CHARACTERS ................................................................................................................................. 53 5.1 LONELY CHARACTERS .................................................................................................................. 54 5.2 DISSATISFIED CHARACTERS .......................................................................................................... 60 5.3 DISILLUSIONED CHARACTERS ....................................................................................................... 65 5.4 TRAUMATIZED CHARACTERS ........................................................................................................ 69 5.5 HOPEFUL CHARACTERS ................................................................................................................. 72 6 THEMES ............................................................................................................................................ 77 6.1 POLITICAL THEMES ....................................................................................................................... 77 6.1.1 Rehabilitation of Australia’s colonial past........................................................................... 77 6.1.2 Unemployment and economic difficulties ............................................................................. 81 6.2 NON-POLITICAL THEMES ............................................................................................................... 84 6.2.1 Unhappy marriages and relationships ................................................................................. 84 6.2.2 Disturbed parent-child-relationships ................................................................................... 87 6.2.3 Longing for closeness ........................................................................................................... 91 6.2.4 Tragic losses ........................................................................................................................ 93 7 CONCLUDING REMARKS ............................................................................................................ 97 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................ 101 INDEX ..................................................................................................................................................... 107 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................. 110 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 110 CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................................................ 112 1 1 Introduction With plays like Speaking in Tongues and When the Rain Stops Falling Australian play- wright Andrew Bovell gained a worldwide reputation as a contemporary dramatist deal- ing with contemporary problems and the hardships of modern life. Bovell has been writ- ing plays since the 1980s, creating sixteen plays for the Australian stage and twelve screenplays for television and popular cinema. “While contemporaries such as David Williamson and Louis Nowra are better known, Bovell is nonetheless among the front rank of Australian playwrights” (Makeham 70). Since he has not yet received the aca- demic recognition he deserves, I want to dedicate the following diploma thesis to the analysis of all plays by Andrew Bovell published to date, from the beginning of his writing career in the mid-1980s to his latest play to date, When the Rain Stops Falling (2008). An analytical interpretation (rather than a chronological one) shall answer the following questions: (1) whether the dramatic technique used by Bovell varies from play to play or is consistent in all of his plays, (2) whether a certain genre is predomi- nant in Bovell’s writing for the stage, (3) whether Andrew Bovell creates stereotypical characters or rather characters that stand out because of their individuality, and (4) whether the plays have specific topics and themes in common. The structure of this the- sis follows these questions and the outcome of this thesis hopefully will be a guide for everyone who is interested in one of Australia’s leading contemporary dramatists. 1.1 Andrew Bovell’s life and career Andrew Bovell, born on 23 November 1962 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, is one of Australia’s most acclaimed playwrights at present (Makeham 70). Nevertheless, there certainly has been a lack of recognition of his work in literary criticism so far.1 One explanation for this fact could be that Bovell rather neglected his writing for the stage in recent years, and laid the focus on his writing for the popular screen. The ratio of the number of plays written for the stage to the number of screenplays developed consid- erably in favour of the latter. While Bovell started his career as a playwright in the sec- ond half of the 1980s with plays for the stage, he turned to screenplay writing in the 1 The state of research about Andrew Bovell’s work will be discussed in detail in chapter 1.3. 2 early 1990s, still writing for the stage as well, but since 2000 the writing of screenplays has dominated his career. Bovell was educated in Perth and Melbourne. He completed his secondary schooling at Scotch College in Perth in 1980, and graduated with a BA from the University of West- ern Australia in 1983. Then he moved to Melbourne, where he studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, completing with a BA in dramatic arts in 1986 (Makeham 70 and AustLit, Bovell Biography). In 1988 he married the actress Eugenia Fragos, with whom he has two sons and one daughter (Makeham 70). Bovell started his career with the play An Ocean out My Window, first produced by the Ensemble Theatre Project at the Gorman House Community
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