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Posmodernist Fiction

Literatura Inglesa IV: El Giro a la Posmodernidad (UNED)

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UNIT 4. DRAMA IN THE SIXTIES AND THE SEVENTIES: ANGER AND COUNTER
CULTURE

4.1 John Osborne (1929-1994. Revolution on the Scene: Look Back in Anger (1956)

In the 50s, a new breed of intellectuals emerged that would express a criticism of class distinction,
which they believed was encouraged by the British establishment of pedigree families, the Church
of England, and the elitist universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Their works conveyed a sense of
anger and frustration at the complacency of post-war Britian.

John Wain´s novel "Hurry on Down" and Kingley Amis´s "Lucky Jim" verified this new trend was
something to be taken seriously. However, it was not until two years later, with the performance of
John Osborne´s "Look Back in Anger" that this movement was consolidated. This play, was a
turning point in post-war British theatre, and John Osborne himself was to change the face of what
had up to this moment been a theatrical scene consisting of melodramas and drawing-room
comedies about subjects written by conservative and middle-class dramatists.

The heroes, or anti-heroes, portrayed in the works of this group of writers also shared a common
denominator: a rebellious and critical attitude toward society.
The impact of "Look Back in Anger"had a profound influence on British culture, shocking
audiences. The play inspired a number of young writers to produce great work, while confronting
the pre-war theatrical scene by incorporating the workin-lass and socialist ideology into their works,
and attacking the snobbery and attitudes so prevalent after World War II.

Osborne´s most successful play- "Look Back in Anger" was performed on the West End and on
Broadway, and later made into a film with Richard Burton in the leading role. Up until 1956, he had
been getting by as an actor/manager for a number of repertory companies, while trying his hand at
playwriting.

By the end of the 50s, he had gained the popular support and the financial resources to manifest his
contempt for the British government. It had been this governing Labour Party which had instilled
society with an air of optimism in the late 1940s with its proposals for domestic reform, fostering
the idea that Britain was in the process of rebuilding itself within a socialist framework.

With his newly-gained power, Osborne had no qualms about voicing his disappointment in the
government´s failure to live up to ist promises. In 1961, his confrontation with the goverment came
to a head with he open "Letter to My Fellow Countrymen" which became referred to as his "Damn
You, England" letter. It was in response to the British crisis which triggered a third world war. In a
melodramatic tone, Osborne held the British government responsible for the destruction of the
planet.

Laurence Olivier, the famous ator, saw "Look Back in Anger" and was so impressed that he
commissioned Osborne to writer a play for him. The result was "The Entertainer", a play that was
successful. Although more experimental- it alternated realistic scenes with Vaudeville
performances- "The Entertainer" also dealts with what would be typically Osbornian themes: man
at war with himself and society, and the frustration of living without hope in a world of hipocrisy.
The Suez crisis of 1056 forms the backdrop to the play.

During the 1960s, John Osborne continued to write plays and an occasional screenplay. However,
the quality of his work was becoming inconsistent. "Luther" and "Inadmissible Evidence" were both
received favourably, focusing on one character and the force of language rather than action as in his
previous plays. His film adaptation of Henry Fielding´s "Tom Jones" won an Oscar in 1964. "A

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Hotel in Amsterdam" (1968) and "A Sense of Detachment" (1072), on the other hand, were derifed .
His 1970 plays were ignored, and it was not until the publication of the first instalment of his
autobiography, "A Better Class of Person" (1981) sequel, "Almost a Gentleman", also appealed to a
large number of readers.

The twenty-year span between the success of "Look Back in Anger" and the writing of these
memoirs provided Osborne with the necessary hindsight to be able to reflect upon his career and his
personal development. In this two-volume autobiography, the playwrights tells of the death of his
father when he was twelve, his own poor health, and his troublesome childhood, while attacking the
mediocrity of lower middle-class England personified by his mother, whom he felt great animosity
towards. He also discusses his moodiness and what he acknowledges to be a difficult temperament.
John Osborne left behind a large body of works and contributed to the transformation of British
theatre by breaking loose from the constraints of his former generation of dramatists and by
focusing on rhetoric, language and emotions.

After Osborne´s death, the 1990 s saw the emergence of a new approach towards his work which
focused on the alleged homophobic and misogynist attitudes of his major plays. His autobiography
seems to have reinforced critical hypotheses regarding his stance on these issues. Each of Osborne´s
male characters portrays different aspects of a man. Indeed, their selfish violent and abusive nature
makes it often difficult for readers to feel sympathy towards the "Jimmy Porters" or the "Archie
Rices" of his plays. Nevertheless, there is something about the essence of these protagonists that we
identify with. There is no doubt that Osborne changed the face of British theatre.

"Look Back in Anger"

It discusses a youn man´s inability to confront or deal with his own personal demons and his
frustration at the post-war Establishment which had failed to live up to his expectations. It is a
variation on the eternal triangular theme in which the wife triumphs over the "other woman" and a
marriage is salvaged. In this sense, it is highly derivative.
However, in other ways, it was innovative. Thanks to its success, Osborne was able to destroy the
myth that theatre had to be genteel, and that audiences needed nice people with whom to identify,
thus paving the way for future playwrights. It became a social phenomenon, depicting everyday
urban life through the use of a visceral, passionate dialogue.

In three Acts, Osborne tells us the story of Jimmy and Alison Porter, whose marriage is rapidly
falling apart, despite occasional signs. Jimmy is an angry university graduate with a working-class
background who is becoming more and more aware of the fact that he will never be a part of the
ruling class that he has prepared himself to join. He vents his rage on his wife, who comes from an
upper middle-class family and his friend Cliff. He isolates himself. A large part of the play consists
of his violent tirades against the Establishment. A great deal of the dialogue is disturbirng, as Jimmy
is verbally abusive when speaking to Alison. At the end of Act II, Alison, who is pregnant, decides
she needs some time alone and goes back to her parents´home presumably for a few days. In her
absence, Helena and Jimmy have an affair. When Alison loses the baby and returns, Helena decides
that has made a mistake and leaves Jimmy to his previous life.

The predominant themes the corruption of the State and social alienation, in the figure of Jimmy
Porter, a rebellious and angry young man.
Porter, a strong character portrayed through his passionate dialogue. He is an example of the very
social malaise that he is attacking, and as such, both a critic and a victim of his society. Alison
represents the class system, a product of her Establishment background. Helena, beautiful and
immoral, is Alison´s counterpart, and the means with which Jimmy can strike back at the world that
has denied him the opportunities of others. Faltan las STUDY QUESTIONS PAG 157-158

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4.2 David Hare. The Theatre as Exploration of Political and Social Issues: Plenty
(1978), The Asian Plays, Pravda (1985)

David Hare ws born in Sussex, England, in 1947, but at age fived moved to the coastal Bexhill-on-
Sea. He began to take interest in theatre while studying at Cambridge, where he earned his Masters
of Arts in English with honours.

Aware of the power of theatre and intent on sharing his politically charged message with as many
audiences as possible, he founded the Portable Theatre Company, a touring experimental theatre
group, with friend and playwright, Tony Bicat. He was its Company´s director during four years,
This period coincide with a feeling of disillusion among leftist intellectuals and writers which was
directed towards their left-winged government. The optimistic mood of the early 1960 leftist had
given way to an atmosphere of disenchantment for what they saw as the betrayal and incompetence
of the Labour Party.

The Company toured Britain, acting and directing works as Howard Brenton´s confrontational
"Christie in Love" and "England´s Irelad", which was banned from more than 50 theatres
Hare´s own writing career began when one of the Company´s playwrights backed out and they were
short a play. Hare solved the problem by writing one himself. It was a primitive satire on the
unlikelihood of revolution in Britain. He was then commissioned to turn this piece into a full-length
play which he called "Slag".

It is the story of three teachers who decide to create an institution in which they can isolate
themselves and their students from any male contact, in the hopes of finding an alternative to the
status quo. Their search for a different society is futile, and their experiment fails miserably, as they
are left alone to consider the impossibility of change in contemporary English society. A biting
satire, or as some refer to it, an anti-feminist farce, "Slag" attacks both radical feminism and the
British Establishment.

Thanks to the Portable Theatre Company, and others that were established during this period,
political theathre flourished. Hare co-wrote three plays and directed five. Within the framework of a
left-wing Marxist creed, playwrights were able to state their often controversial, anti-establishment
plays and put forth their political ideology. For Brenton, political theatre and political activity could
not be separated.

In order to transmit their message more effectively, and because the group travelled so much, the
playwrights introduced an innovative approach to theatre out of necessity: the scenery had to be
simple, easy to set up and move from one town to another. The sparse settings were accompanied
by a direct, concise language, void of euphemisms. As a result, the dialogues and the character
development became essential elements of these plays.

Thus Hare´s first plays were performed while he was still part of the Portable Theatre experiment,
although none of them, except for those that he co-authored, were staged with the Company. In
"Slag", "How Brophy Made Good" and "The Great Exhibition", the common denominator is the
playwright´s dismissal of all forms of leftist political activity, which he claims has littel or no
relevance to the real problems of society. Thus, his distinctive voice began to emerge during the
early 1970s. These early plays target some aspects of the left, and this message is the same: the
power of the "real" world nullifies all leftist protests which are seen as a search for utopian
alternatives, and are in turn ridiculed.

"Slag", then, characterises leftist activities as helplessly searching for an "unreal" alternative. This
play is seen as a metaphor for England, which despite its diminishing influence and prestige,

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continued to behave like a world power. "How Brophy Made Good" takes place in Londong in
1968, and focuses on the career of Brophy, a former BBC television personality. Through his
character, Hare exposes the Media and the way it renders all protests impure and unauthentic.
"The Great Exhibition" is a parody of the archetypal Royal Court play. Hare examines Hammett, the
main character, a morally corrupt and defeated Member of Parliament, while criticising the wasted
years of the Labour government in the 1960s. Hammet, overwhelmed with guilt and self-hatred for
having betrayed the socialist cause, retreatd from the public sphere. The play begins during his sixth
week of isolation. In nearly all of his plays, Hare aims to portray the disintegration of the moral
values of his characters, who are usually from the upper-middle class and pride themselves in their
progressive views.

In 1975, David Hare co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre, serving as director there until 1980.
Perhaps the most distinguising feature of this group waas that it included writers, actors, and
directors that could have worked in mainsteam theatres, but who chose to work with this touring
fringe company in order to bring their political convictions to sectors of society that might not go to
the theatre. The company became politicised by staging Hare´s "Fanshen" based on the book by
William Hinton about how the people of a remote Chinese village come to terms with Communism
after the Mao-led revolution. The play emerged from a series of workshops during which actors,
directors and playwright worked together, and every scene was conceived from a political point of
view.
By rejecting individualism in favour of group creativity, the participants hoped to inspire audiences
to take a similar stand in their own lives.
The "modus operandi" used in putting together "Fanshen" was applied to all of Joing Stock´s
following work, and for the next three years, more than half a dozen plays by leading writers such
as David Hare, Stanley Eveling and Heathcote Williams were produced by this company.

In 1975, Hare also wrote "Teeth ´n´Smiles", a satirical commentary on the state of modern British
society, which he sees as dominated by dishonesty and corruption. It is highly autobiographical in
his examination of his own youth. However, it was not until the end of the seventies that he began
to write what are now considered his major works. The first of his most significant plays, and for
some critics his best, is "Plenty" (1978). Susan Traherne, the protagonist, can find nothing in her
upper-middle class life set in the sixties to match the romance of her work as a courier in France
during the war. The play gives a vivid impression of the decline of Britain´s imperial pretensions in
an age where spiritual poverty contrasts with material plenty.

Hare´s television film "Licking Hitler" followed, and is a reassessment of Britain´s role in World
War II. It has been coined a "history play" and has been grouped together with "Knuckle" and
"Plenty" under this category. Likewise, "A Map of the World", "Fanshen" and "Saigon" are regarded
as "The Asian Plays", since they all take place in the East.

In "A Map of the World", the action shifts from a film studio to the setting for a United Nations
conference on world poverty. The play is highly experimental, and perhaps for this reason received
lukerwarm reviews. The context of the action is the filming of a novel by one of the characters.
Then, in 1985 Hare co-wrote with Howard Benton and staged a successful attack on the British
press with "Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy". Andrews, the protagonist, witnesses the ascent of his
career as a journalist as he moves from a small-twon daily to a national newspaper. When he
decides to print a leaked government document, he is fired by Lambert Laroux, a media tycoon. The
rest of his years are dominated by his obsession with revenge. In the end, he compromises with the
system by working for the most sensationalistic tabloid in the city. The main theme of the play is the
subservience of journalists to the power-hungry media moguls of London´s Fleet Street.
In his later plays, Hare targets institutions such as the Church of England, the British legal system
and Britain´s Labour Party. Some of his most recent plays are less overtly political. Amy´s View

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explores the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and "The Judas Kiss" speculates on what
might have happened between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, the man who betrayed him. In
the latter, Hare explores the themes of love and loyalty by focusing on male friendship under stress.
In 1998, the playwright became an actor himself. "Via Dolorosa", a one-man play, was the vehicle
for his presence on stage. He examines the nature of faith and prejudice in a monologue about a
visit he made to Israel and the occupied territories. In this testimony of the conflicting voices and
beliefs of the people he encountered on his trip, Hare notes that the play is meant for those who
think they know something about the Middle East but who are in fact unaware of the complexity of
this situation.

All in all, David Hare has written more than 20 plays, several films, teleplays, and has engaged in a
number of other literary and non-literary projects.
"Stuff Happens" was written in response to the War of Iraq. The title refers to Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld´s insensitive words regarding the chaos and looting of post-war Iraq.
For some critics, he is too pessimistic and too predictable. Nevertheless his consistency, the variety
of his work, his range of form and technique, and his long-lasting role as critic of the British
Establishment and the post-war world have made him the most successful of his generation of
political writers.

Plenty

As with the majority of Hare´s work, this play is noted for its witty characters, incisive dialogue,
cinematic staging techniques and the author´s embracement of social and political issues. Susan, a
complex female character, is living in conflict with her past- in which she was politically committed
to her country as a courier in the French Resistance- and the mundane nature of her present
circumstances. She has now become the well-off wife of a prestigious diplomat. Trapped in
opulence, her character parallels the disintegration of moral integrity, so frequently targeted in Hare
´s works. Through Susan, he is able to convey the disillusionment of post-war years and the
hypocrisy of class culture. "Plenty" is both a vehicle through which to analyse society, and a
psychological study of the impact of this society on one person as well. As such, it is designed to
evoke different responses in the spectators.

STUDY QUESTIONS DE UN EXCERPT

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4.3. Harold Pinter. Power Plays and the "Comedy of Menace": The Dumb Waiter.

Until his death in 2008, he was considered by many critics to be the "greatest playwright" in Great
Britain, a claim that has at times been refuted. In spite of his awarded Nobel Prize, most of his
readers agree that he was by far the most original and challenging of the dramatists who emerged
towards the end of the 1950s.
"The Birthday Party", "The Caretaker" and "The Homecoming" were his most popular plays.
The diversification of his work and his prolific artistic output single him out as one of the most
notable literary figures of the secondpart of the 20th century and the beginnings of the 21th. The
author of more than 30 plays, 21 screen plays, and director of 27 theatre productions.

In his later artistic and vital period, he became a political activist, campaigning againts the War in
Iraq and taking almost every opportunity to make pronouncements on current affairs, especially
denouncing U.S politics. Over the last 20 years of his life, his plays were few and far between, and
those that he wrote were politically-inspired.

He grew up in a solid working-class environment. His extended families played an important role in
his upbringing. Some of the members of his family engaged in borderline criminal activities and
one of his uncles was a bare-knuckle boxer, while his father´s relatives were interested in music, art
and literature.
These opposing points would be and essential feacture of his plays. The effects of Pinter´s
evacuation as a child during the Second World War were also to be of relevance to his artistic
development. The recurrent feeling of entrapment and claustrophobia are likeli to stem fro a
traumatic separation from his parents when he was a child (he and a group of children were sent to a
castle in Cornwall).
The bombing of his neighbourhood, the East End of London, also made a huge impact on Pinter,
fostering the idea that surfaces in his texts that violence is not only inevitable, but always a threat.

When the war was over. Pinter enrolled in grammar school and lived a care-free period in the wake
of his experience as an evacuee. Many of the friends he made, would last well into his adult life. It
is not clear to what extent the Holocaust and its aftermath affected the playwright nor how
important his Jewishness was to his work.

Many of his plays are about motiveless persecution which is no doubt a reaction to this experience
as a youth, however Pinter tends to play down the repercussion of his ethnicity, favouring a more
universal interpretation of his work.

After a year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he chose to drop out of school and dedicate his
time to reading, writing and acting. When he was drafterd, he registeredas a conscientious objector
and was imprisoned for a short period of time. Once he had paid his fines and served his sentence
he went back to acting. At age 26 he met the young actress Vivien Merchant and they were married.
At the same time he worked on two semi-autobiographic novels: "The Queen of All the Fairies" and
"The Dwarfs".

Pinter´s writing career began with the performance of "The Room" in 1957. This same year, "The
Dumb Waiter" and "The Birthday Party" were written. All three of these plays reveal the impact that
Samuel Beckett´s "Waiting for Godot" had on the young playwright, which is especially poignant in
his representation of the relationship between Gus and Ben in "The Dumb Waiter". He believed that
language was a stratagem to cover vulnerability.

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Pinter´s dialogue echoes Beckett´s strategic use of repetition and pauses. And in the works of both
of these playwrights, the true nature of their characters emerges just as much from what the do not
say as from what they do.

However, while Beckett´s silences suggest the alienation of his characters, who are victims of the
tedium and meaninglessness of modern life, Pinter´s are ominous and threatening, and often
foreshadow a violent denouement. His utilisation of language is in fact so unique that the word
"Pinteresque" has been coined to refer to the dialogues which camouflage a menacing situation, a
world he creates full of silence ad repressed violence. For this reason, his plays have often been
called "Comedies of Menace". Furthermore, the frequent uses of pause within his dialogues has
come to be considered sch an outstanding characteristic of his work that at times it has been the
subject of parody and mockery.

John Russell Brown notes that another characteristic that is essential to Pinter´s dialogue is his
exploitation of difference in the awareness of characters upon the stage. In his article, "Dialogue in
Pinter and in Others" he highlights Pinter´s ability to not only write dialogue that presents both
conscious and unconscious thoughts, but his mastery at keeping several flows of consciousness
alive in a single conversation.

"The Birthday Party" was received unfavourably and closed in a week. "The Caretaker" however,
was successful and has come to be known as one of his most representative comedies of menace.
With this play, Pinter made his breakthrough in British theatre, marking the abandonment of the
symbolism and supernatural devices used in earlier plays. Written in 1960, it deals with the
relationship of three men who share a single room some place in London. This play, too, echoes
"Waiting for Godot", in its themes of communication and the inadequacy of language, yet its
dialogue is more naturalistic, and highlights, once again, the tension and potential violence that
emanate from the roles of domination and submission which define the characters and are
manifested by the way they communicate with one another.
"The Caretaker" and "The Homecoming", first performed in 1965, are probably Pinter´s most
admired and influential plays. The latter parodies the working-class sucess story while satirising
working-class males who hide their fear and submissivenes behind sexual aggressiveness and
violence.

In "Old Time", Pinter´s next success, the plawright returns to one of his earlier themes: that of an
intruder who disturbs the peace of a home and a seemingly stable marriage. The play`s denouement
offerts three levels of possible interpretation, highlighting an ambiguity of events and an
indeterminacy of characters, techniques often used by Pinter to increase dramatic tension while
elevating the discomfort level of his readers. In this sense, an affinity between his ideolog and that
of the school of nouveau roman writers in France can be observed: Pinter refuses to pretend to
know how his characters feel and what makes them behave as they do. In his plays, he aims to
present his readers with an account of what happens to his characters and what changes take place
from the beginning to the end. They are full of questions that cannot be answered, and we, as
readers, are left to the difficult task of resolving or interpreting. This refusal to moralise and his
absence of a moral framework are the features that distinguish him from other dramatists.

Given the prolific nature of this playwright, it would be an ambitious task to discuss all of his plays,
not to mention his screenplays (among them, "The French Lieutenant´s Woman" and "The
Handmaid´s Tale" by John Fowles and Margaret Atwood.

"The Dumb Waiter" was no doubt chosen for the Norton Anthology because of its status as a
typically "Pinteresque" play and it will no give readers the opportunity to become familiar with the
identifying features of his work. Ben and Gus are hired killers, waitin for Wilson- a theatrical

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corollary of Godot- to give them instructions regarding their next "job". The element of uncertainty
is introduced from the very beginning of the story. We ask ourselves who they are, where they are
and what they are doing there. The two protagoists, Ben and Gus, engage in a conversation which is
defined through a series of pauses and repetitions that are in turn aided by harmless and
insignificant props. It becomes evident that of the two men Gus is the most submissive and
insecure. Ben, on the other hand, emits an aura of intimidation and violence, using silence as a
means of domination. For example, how the men try to control each other with words and how their
short utterances and repetitions seem hostile.

In other parts of the play, to Gus´s worried questioning, Ben responds either by referring to sordid
news items or with repressed anger and emotional vacuity. When the dumb waiter is introduced, the
dialogue shifts away from the two men who are now confronted with and have to communicate with
the unknown person at the end of the shaft.

Pinter´s plays have been categorised by some critics as "Theatre of non-communication". In Pinter´s
work, the unspoken, in which the real concerns of the protagonists are found, can be identified
through his explosive silences and nuances of vocabulary, perhaps even more so through their
actions. The way in which the writer creates ambiguity in order to force his readers to reach their
own consclusions is remarkable.

STUDY QUESTIONS

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4.4 Caryl Churchill. Women, Power and Subjection: "Top Girls" (19829

Caryl Churchill was born in London and was the daughter of a political cartoonist and a fashion
model (her mother) and minor film actress. During World War II, the family immigrated to Canada,
where she spent her teenage years at Trafalgar School in Montreal, where she began writing short
stories. She returned to England to complete a degree in English Literature in Oxford, where she
wrote three plays: "Downstairs", "Having a Wonderful Time" and "Easy Death". After graduating
and getting married, she began to write radio plays- a genre which encouraged her to develop an
economy of style that would later be an important characteristic of her work for the stage. While
this medium suited her, as she was able to combine her writing and her child-rearing, she remarked
that she hadn´t felt a part of what was happening in the sixties.

Churchill´s first professionally produced stage play, "Owners", was presented at the Royal Court´s
Theatre Upstairs. A critique of the values that most people endorse: being ambitious, successful and
agressive, Churchill highlights her own socialist views, the gender and class issues that would
become central to her theatre in the following decades.
"Ownership" in this play is dealt with through the property-owning, childless couple, Marion and
Clegg, and their tenants. Alec and Lisa, who hare struggling to raise a family despite financial
adversity. To reinforce her point of view, Churchill reverses conventional roles, making the
aggressive property owner a woman, and the submissive tenant, a man.

Marion is considered to be a precursor to Marlene of "Top Girls", her internationally acclaimed and
award-winning play. Her works often feature characters like Marion, a powerful, self-centred
woman who, blinded by greed and malice, does away with the men around her, in one way or
another.

From 1974-1975, Churchill served as resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre and then went
on to collaborate with other theatre companies such as Joint Stock and Monstrous Regiment, a
feminist theatre union. He association with both groups proved fruitful, for during this period she
took part in drama workshops and wrote two historical dramas set in 17th century England: "Vinegar
Tom", which dealt with the sexual politics of the murdering of presumed witches during the 1640s,
and "Light Shining in Buckinghamshire", which tells the story of six working-class people and their
rise up against economic divestment. A product of the experimental workshop of Joint Stock, the
play rejects conventional forms of plot and character in favour of short scenes and a cast of actors
who each play various roles.

"Cloud Nine" was the playwright´s second Joint Stock production. Its first act takes place in
nineteenth-century colonial Africa, and the second is set in her contemporary London.
As with “Owners”, Churchill also plays with time and sex roles for both comic and instructive
effect. In Act One, for instance, the mother is performed by a man, her son by a girl, and her African
servant by a white man. In Act Two, a male adult plays the part of a young girl.

Throughout the play, sexual represión points to economic represión, and sexual imperialism is
equated with political imperialism. In her own words, the play highlights the “parallels between the
way colonizers treat the colonized and the way men tended to treat women”.

“Clound Nine” was a success both in Great Britain and the US.

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For writers like Churchill committed to left-wing politics, the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher were
seen as frightening and threatening decade, and her overall themes of power, exploitation and
obsessions became especially poignant.
“Softcops” played by an all-male cast, is a surreal historical fantasy set in nineteenth-century France
which examineds social systems of control and punishment from a Foucauldian perspective. In
1980, “Three More Sleepless Nights” enhanced her reputation as a “sexually subversive
playwright”, according to critic Ned Chaillet. Three sleepless nights are three scenes in bed. During
the first two, the characters, two married couples, sleep in two separte beds. However on the third
night, they are shuffled, which brings on the obsessie jealously of one of the wives. Finally, each
character returns to his original partner.

“Top Girls” is Churchill´s 28 play and perhaps the most significant example of her writing to date.
In this play, Churchill´s feminist themes are developed and represented by an all-female cast who
has chosen not to have a family in favor of being a successful businesswoman. The women´s
liberation movement of 1980s is examined by contrasting two sisters´ lifestyles. “Fen” followed up
on the theme o fan oppressed community of women, unable to find a way out of poverty. Four years
later, “Serious Money”, a comedy of the financial world, was successful. This play is set in London
´s financial district and explores, in rhyming verse, the way its characters are driven by greed and
fear in a world of corruption.

The most Churchill´s notable playwright, entitled “The Striker”, is an exploration of myth and
mystery from a woman´s point of view. In this play, Churchill explores contemporary attitudes
about the destitute while telling a variation of the folktale about the magical, evil being that tries to
trick a young mother into giving up her firstborn. Now in her seventies, Churchill continues to
write. “Far Away” and “A Number” were premiered at the Royal Court. The latter, an hour-long
futuristic drama, deals with issues of human power and identity within the context of human
cloning. Churchill opposes social systems base don exploitation. However, she differs from her
contemporary because she not only acknowledges the way traditional power is exercised by The
Establishment, but she also examines the universal subjection of women as well. Her women
characters, who have been forced to submit to the masculine code, are products of a society that has
regarded them as commodities. Thus, by reversing her portrayals of male and female behaviour, she
challenges social convention.

Over the years, Churchill has shown remarkable versatility as a playwright. The erosiono of
socialism from both national and international politics has prompted her to warn against sacrificing
one´s community life to a globalised world. She continues to challenge the limits of traditional
dramatic forms. Churchill has been essential to the field of women´s playwriting and has
encouraged critical and theoretical feminist activity. Her focus on the obsessions of power and the
longings of the exploited has made her work accesible and given it a relevant position in today´s
English drama.

From the start, “Top Girls” was regarded as a unique, difficult play about working women and the
challenges they face in the business world, and in society in general. The historical context in which
this play takes place is important since it coincides with the Thatcher era. During her term, this
Prime Minister dismantled many of the socialista practices that were part of the post-World War II
period. She privatized large industries, like coal mining which had previously been run by the
government, and she limited the power of trade unions. This made her unpopular amongst the
working and lower-classes. By 1982, national morale was at its lowest, over 3 million people were
unemployed and suffering the consequences of cuts in welfare and social programs. Professional
women trying to make a living during this decade were confronted with many obstacles. Thatcher´s
politics did not appear to be favouring women, who made up forty percent of the labour force.
Marlene, the play´s central character, supports the political agenda of Britain´s Prime Minister,

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Churchill assesses this paradox- Marlene has become emancipated through success, yet she
endorses a leader who has done Little for women´s rights. The Price that Marlene has had top ay in
order to be successful is high, and it appears that her freedom has come to mean adopting the
predatory values that women have been victims of for centuries.

In this play, Churchill poses the question of whether or not women´s progress in the profesional
world has been a positive thing, and at the same time, she forces the reader to consider the notion of
success itself. She appears to be asking herself what the purpose of female emancipation is, it it
turns clever, strong women into power-mongers, and does nothing for the vulnerable. There is an
implicit discusión on what society expects of women, which is never answered. And while Marlene
sees her life in terms of success and failure, her sister, Joyce, focuses on survival. The formers sees
her sister as a complete failure, while the latter, is far from impressed by Marlene´s achievements.
Sadly, both agree when discussing the third character, Angie, and her future: as she is rather dim-
witted, she has no chance of being successful in life. Her best option is to find a menial job and
marry as son as posible. The brilliance of the play resides in the way Churchill forces us to consider
the idea that perhaps feminist ideology can at time be too judgmental, simplified and restrictive. We
are left asking ourselves which of the sisters is more emancipated.

Critics have praised “Top Girls” for the author´s unusual use of techniques such as a non-linear
construction, overlapping dialogue and the blending of fantasy and reality. The events are linked
thematically, not by a sequence of time. The play opens with a fantasy dinner party in which all the
guests are either dead of fictional. The all-female cast holds a party in celebration of all of these five
women´s successes, which they reveal have not brought them happiness, but have, on the contrary,
made them miserable. Marlene is congratulated on her own success, as she is soon to become the
first woman managing director of the advertising agency, Top Girls. The next act is also devoted to
different scenes from her life, belonging to both past and present. The last scene of the play takes
place about a year prior to the other events. By using the flashback technique, Churchill i sable to
tie up some of the loose ends created by the story. Finally, when the play is performed, several parts
are played by the same women. Multiple casting tends to create visual links between very different
people, implying that these characters might share common features.

In Act Three, Marlene, who has focused on her career exclusively, goes to visit her sister, Joyce and
her niece. She believes that her sister is a failure because she was unable to grow beyond her
neighbourhood- instead, she got married and raised a child. Angie, who, we are told, is Joyce´s
daughter but who has discovered that her Aunt Marlene is her real mother, has gone to bed. The two
sisters´ conversation about their lives turns into an argument. Marlene believers that Joyce is jealous
of her success, while Joyce criticises her sister´s decisions, especially her choosing to leave home
and give up her daughter.

Read excerpt pag 185-187

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