Institutional Repository

Power and oppression: a study of materialism and gender in selected drama of Caryl Churchill

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.advisor Ryan, P.D. en
dc.contributor.author Rowe, Danelle en
dc.date.accessioned 2009-08-25T10:51:18Z
dc.date.available 2009-08-25T10:51:18Z
dc.date.issued 2009-08
dc.date.submitted 2003-11-30 en
dc.identifier.citation Rowe, Danelle (2009) Power and oppression: a study of materialism and gender in selected drama of Caryl Churchill, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1286> en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1286
dc.description.abstract Caryl Churchill, the most widely performed female dramatist in contemporary British theatre, is a playwright preoccupied with the dissection of the traditional relations of power. She challenges social and dramatic conventions through her innovative exploration of the male gaze, the objectification of women, the performativity of gender, and women as objects of exchange within a masculine economy. In so doing, Churchill locates her concerns in the area of `materialism and gender'. Churchill explicates a socialist-feminist position by pointing directly at the failure of liberal feminism. The lack of a sense of community among women, highlighted by Churchill's portrayal of women such as Marlene in `Top Girls', forms a critical aspect of Churchill's work. Her drama re-iterates how meaningful change is impossible while women continue to oppress one another, and while economic structures perpetuate patriarchy. Altered consciousness, aligned to socio-political re-structuring, is necessary for both the oppressors and the oppressed, in a society where too much emphasis has been placed on individualism. The outspoken hope for a transgression of the conventional processes of identification and other omnipresent, oppressive socio-political phenomena, is a strong aspect of Churchill's work. Her plays reveal how signs create reality rather than reflect it, and she uses Brechtian-based distancing methods to induce a critical examination of gendered relations. Time-shifting, overlapping dialogue, doubling and cross-casting are used by Churchill to manipulate the sign-systems of the dominant order. Cross-gender casting, Churchill's most widely reviewed dramatic device, is employed to destabilise fixed sexual identities determined by dominant heterosexual ideology. She calls into question the traditional sign `Woman' - which is constructed by and for the male gaze - and addresses the marginality of the female experience in a non-linear framework. Although dealing with serious issues, Churchill's plays are often executed in a style that is at once amusing and thought-provoking to exclude the possibility of didacticism. With her skilful use of language and innovative techniques as her highly effective instruments, Churchill accomplishes her broader purpose with originality. In its originality and complexity, her drama is in itself a `new possibility' for different forms. en
dc.format.extent 1 online resource (150 leaves)
dc.language.iso en en
dc.subject Male gaze en
dc.subject Overlapping dialogue en
dc.subject Intra-sexual oppression en
dc.subject Brechtian alienation techniques en
dc.subject Cross-casting en
dc.subject Cross-dressing en
dc.subject Feminist theatre en
dc.subject Socialist feminism en
dc.subject Women's oppression en
dc.subject Gender ideologies en
dc.subject Patriarchy en
dc.subject.ddc 822.914
dc.subject.lcsh Churchill, Caryl -- Criticism and interpretation
dc.subject.lcsh Gender in literature
dc.subject.lcsh Power (Social sciences) in literature
dc.subject.lcsh Oppression (Psychology)
dc.subject.lcsh Feminism and literature
dc.title Power and oppression: a study of materialism and gender in selected drama of Caryl Churchill en
dc.type Dissertation en
dc.description.department English Studies en
dc.description.degree M. A. (English) en


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search UnisaIR


Browse

My Account

Statistics