El Fouadi, Kamal (1989) The scope of naturalism in British working- class drama, with particular reference to Joe Corrie, D.H. Lawrence and Sean O'Casey. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3197/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis 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 Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Sco e of Naturalism In British Working-class Draina, With Particular Reference to Joe Corrie, D. M. Lawrence and Sean O'Casey. Thesis submitted to the University of Glasgow By KAMAL EL FOUADI in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. © K. EI FOUADI, 1989 Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies. February, 1989 I For My Mother and Father M: Acknowledgements Firstly, and primarily, I would like to thank, Mr. G. Giesekam, for his conscientious supervision, perceptive criticism, and for all the time he sacrificed to read and comment upon my dissertation. I am also indebted to Professor J. MacDonald and Dr. A. Cameron for their generous assistance and advice. Professor A. Dunccan, Professor I. Thomson, Mr. S. Johnson, and Ms. A. MacGregor deserve a special mention for all the financial assistance they provided me with and the friendliness and welcome I have always enjoyed. My thanks are also due to the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education and the Moroccan Embassy in London. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help of the press and publicity managers of both the Citizens' and the 7: 84 Theatre Companies, Ms. Robertta Dyole and Liz Smith, for giving me permission to consult and to photocopy photographs and programmes of the productions of some plays on which I have been working. IE ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to define the scope of naturalism in British working-class drama with special reference to the plays of D. H. Lawrence, Sean O'Casey and Joe Corrie. To fulfill such a project, I undertook a personal assessment of the theory of naturalism and its practice in the theatre. For the purpose of being more comprehensive, I carried out a comparative study between working-class naturalism and that of the New Drama since the latter preceded the former. Having assessed and evaluated the theory of naturalism, in general, and its manifestation in the works of the new drama exponents and of the working-class dramatists, I defined and discussed the comparative aspects, as concepts, in the plays of three British playwrights. I have also tried to familiarize the reader with the features of the conversational analysis in the light of which I approached the issue of how similar to natural discourse dramatic dialogue may be. The study of the manifestation of naturalism in the plays of Lawrence, Corrie and O'Casey, which covers the last three chapters, is undertaken in the light of the scope of naturalism as I have previously defined it. In other words, an attempt is being made to question the validity of the naturalist theory as advocated by its exponents, and to prove the practicality of the angle from which I approached naturalism by examining certain plays. The study of the plays, therefore, allows me to define the extent to which one can refer to Lawrence, Corrie and O'Casey as naturalist dramatists and to question, if not to correct, some unfounded criticisms of naturalism in general and working-class naturalism in particular. -Y List of Abbreviations S.S. - single sentence. S.C. - single clause. s. ph. ON-single phrase. S.W. 10 single word. D.T. 10 Discourse topic. S., S., & J. - Schegloff, Sacks & Jefferson. m TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abstract List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 ..............................................................................................P. Chapter One: Critical Assessment of Naturalism in the Theatre: Theory Practice P.9 and ................................................................................. A. The History of Naturalism in the Nineteenth Century and its Impact on the Already Established Drama of the Day. B. Discussion of the Tenets of Naturalism: Naturalism and the Scientific Approach (Zola, Strindberg & Chekhov). * The Concept of Motivation ( Zola and Strindberg). " Character and Physical Appearance. Heredity Principle and the Idea of Determinism. C. NaturalismOn the Level of Acting and Staging: * Illusion of Reality (Antoine and Stanislavsky). * The Notion of the Fourth Wall (Antoine). * Acting from Within (Stanislavsky's system of acting). D. Assessment of the Effectiveness of Naturalism as a Tradition in the Theatre: B. Brecht and G. Luckacs. * Naturalist Drama and Social / Political Criticism. Vil Chapter Two: From the Naturalism of the New Drama to Working Naturalism 54 -class ................................................. p. A. The new drama (J. Galsworthy, H. G. Barker and St. Hankin). B. Working-class drama (D. H. Lawrence, J. Corrie and S. O'Casey). C. Similarities and differences between the new drama and working- class naturalism. Chapter Three: Definiti on of the compa rative a spects in the plays of D. H. Lawrence. J. Corrie and S. O'Casey :............. p. 73 A. Stage Presentation: * The main functions of a naturalistic setting. The criticism of a naturalistic setting. " The Degree of theatricality in a naturalistic setting. * Techniques of Staging. B. The Concept of Characterization: * Convincing Characters. * The Mode of Action Vis-a-vis the Characters' personalities. * Interaction of the Characters. * Motivation. * Physical Appearance. * The Ensemble. C. Language. Chapter Four: Introduction to Conversational Analysis: 99 ...... p. A. "A Simplest Systematics for the Organisation of Turn-taking" (E. Schegloff, H. Sacks & G. Jefferson). B. Dialectal Density (A Quantitative Approach). C. The Phenomenon of Phatic Communion (J. Laver). D. Discourse Structure (E. Keenan & B. Schieffelin, J. Laver & Hutchenson). Chapter Five: D. H. Lawrence: 114 .......................................... p. A. Stage Presentation: * Exploration of Stage Presentation as an Illusion-producing Factor. * The Degree of theatricality in Lawrence's Three Plays. B. The Concept of Characterization: * Physical Appearance. * The Nature of the Characters' Actions. * Antagonism and Clash of Personalities. * The Deficiency of Lawrence's Method of Characterization. * The Exploration of the Relationship Between Character and Environment. * The Problematic Nature of the Notion of Tragedy in Lawrence's Three Plays. C. The Social Criticism of the Plays. D. Conversational Analysis of Language in The Daughter-in-law. Chapter Six: Joe Corrie :................................................... p. 205 A. Stage Presentation: IE * Physical Aspect of the Settings. * The Degree of Theatricality in the Plays. B. Character and Reality: * Physical Appearance. * Social Conflict. * The Nature of the Action. * Characters and Envirnoment. * Corrie and the Notion of Hope. C. Social Criticism. D. Conversational Analysis of Language in In Time 0' Strife: Chapter Seven: Sean O'Casey 306 ................................................. p. A. Stage Presentation in the Dublin Plays. Methods of Desccribing the Settings. Possibilities and Limitations of the Staging of the Dublin Plays B. Character and Reality: * Contrast and Comparison of Characters. Rehashing of Character-delineation. O'Casey's Anti-heroic Vision. Man and Envirnoment. * The Notion of Tragedy. C. Conversational Analysis of Language in The Plough and the Stars. Conclusion . ...................................................................... p. 357 Bibliography ..................................................................... p. 368 Introduction 2 Naturalism finds expression not only in philosophy, art, literature and theology, but also in drama. All of the above named disciplines practiced naturalism in the light of its major principle which may be termed as cause-and-effect process. Naturalistic philosophers, artists, men of letters and theologists shared the view that phenomena, in the world can be explained in terms of causes and natural forces. In theatre, however, the manifestation of naturalism covers a broader scope in the sense that dramatists did not only limit themselves to the level of theorizing but also went further to practice the theory of naturalism on the stage. The naturalistic playwrights took upon themselves the task of putting on naturalistic settings and life-like characters who were supposed to create an illusion of reality which is, in its turn, produced according to the tenets of the theory of naturalism in the theatre. Having shown the significance naturalism received in drama and the theatre as opposed to the other disciplines, I would proceed to brief the reader as to the issues and the controversies the practice of naturalism raised among thinkers, men of letters and authorities at the time. Because naturalism was revolutionary in essence, all of the already established institutions including governments in power, the most dominant schools of literature and other literary circles expressed strong objections to its practice. The books of