The period 1966-1977 saw the emergence of both the Canadian feminist movement and a new Canadian drama. This thesis explores how the work of four English Canadian female playwrights reflected both in their groundbreaking early work. Aviva Ravel, Beverley Simons, Carol Bolt, and Sharon Pollock were each concerned with women's roles and changing conventional perceptions of women. This may in part explain why critics view the early work of these four playwrights as proto-feminist rather than feminist. All four playwrights, although they often disavowed a feminist intent, wrote plays that reflected the ideological tenets of second-wave Anglo-American feminism. However, their plays also often depict a decidedly vexed feminist vision. They critiqued restrictions imposed on women, while simultaneously arguing for the importance of women's empowered contribution to society, but often their message is obscured by ambiguous characterizations, structures, and conclusions. In this way, these playwrights asserted a feminist vision and challenged authority and stereotypical depictions of women on stage, while attempting to evade the antipathy of audiences and critics.
The feminist reflections of these four female playwrights during the initial stages of the second-wave feminist movement in Canada provide a fascinating glimpse into how these writers were able to create a role for themselves in Canadian theatre against the backdrop of the women's liberation movement. They may have concealed their feminist sympathies to varying degrees; however, they nonetheless put women's concerns centre-stage and began an examination of identity politics and gender socialization, especially in relation to the notion examination of identity politics of the performance of gender roles, that has continued for decades.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29851 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Talia, Lia Marie |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 282 p. |
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