Using historical characters and themes has been a most popular approach in drama among English playwrights of the twentieth century. While fairly extensive scholarship has been done on history plays from the Elizabethan world to about the mid-1970s, more recent plays dealing with historical subject matter have yet to be fully explored as a group. / A select few English playwrights using a variety of techniques link political and social concerns with such topics as gender stereotyping, family relationships, sexual oppression, the divisions of labor, ethnocentrism, and class struggles. Looking closely at these trends in recent British theatre demonstrates how these playwrights reveal contemporary ills through the popular English tradition of combining historical data with dramatic form. / This dissertation examines and compares selected works of the recent British playwrights Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, David Hare, and Pam Gems whose social and political dramas explore questions of sexuality, power, and values through their use of history. While a fair amount of scholarship has addressed connecting themes within their canons, little work has been done on a common thread in Edward Bond's The Woman, Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, David Hare's Plenty, and Pam Gems's Queen Christina: questions of myth and history are central to their explorations of gender-related issues. This dissertation shows not only why a group of recent playwrights has focused upon historical, mythical themes and characters but especially how they have demythologized particular notions of gender by examining social and political issues from a historical perspective. This examination and comparison of these playwrights and their works between the years 1977 and 1985 contribute to our understanding of the continuing tradition of linking dramatic art with historical consciousness. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: A, page: 3227. / Major Professor: Karen Laughlin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76733 |
| Contributors | Turley, Robert Shannon., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 290 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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