Re-visioning myth

Modern and contemporary drama by women

By (author) Frances Babbage

Publication date:

01 September 2011

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

216x138mm

ISBN-13: 9780719067525

The first in-depth assessment of ‘re-vision’ as a phenomenon in women’s drama, examining the diverse ways in which classical myth narratives have been reworked by women playwrights for the European stage. This study explores the ideological and aesthetic potential of such practice and silmultaneously exposes the tensions inherent in attempts to challenge narratives that have fundamentally shaped western thought.

From tracing the persistence of classical myths in contemporary culture and the significance of this in shaping gendered identities and opportunities, through to analysis of individual plays and productions, Babbage reveals how myths have served in the theatre as ‘pretexts’ for ideological debate; enabling exploration of the fragile borders between mythic and the everyday and how revision has been regarded, not unproblematically, as a route towards restructuring the self.

This makes compelling reading for anyone interested in women’s writing for the theatre or wider practices of adaptation in literature and performance.

Introduction
1. The lie of the land
Theorising myth
Re-visioning myth
Staging myth: Hella Haasse’s A Thread in the Dark
2. Political acts
Furiously funny: The Same Old Story and Medea, by Franca Rame and Dario Fo
‘And she stopped the world’: Sarah Daniels’ Neaptide
3. Out of character
Nothing sacred: Maureen Duffy’s Rites
‘I don’t know what got into me’: Caryl Churchill’s and David Lan’s A Mouthful of Birds
Making silence speak: Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale:
4. Stages of subjectivity
The voices within: Serena Sartori, Renata Coluccini and Demeter Beneath the Sand
Hélène Cixous and the scene of the unconscious: The Name of Oedipus: Song of the
Forbidden Body
The scene of history: Cixous’s The Perjured City, or the Awakening of the Furies
5. New directions
Shock treatment: Sarah Kane and Phaedra’s Love
‘I’ve got the feeling we’ll be eternal’: Hrafnhildur Hagalín’s Easy Now, Electra
In pieces: Gilla Cremer’s m.e.d.e.a
Bibliography

Selective yet impressively comprehensive . . . Highly recommended.
J. Artman, CHOICE May 2012

This is a valuable contribution to the study of female playwrights . . . Teachers and students will find this a strong resource with its discrete sections on each play but Babbage’s study also offers a more detailed and sophisticated critique for those seeking a deeper engagement with a book rich in literary and theoretical perspectives.
Gilli Bush-Bailey, Theatre Research International, volume 37 issue 03, October 2012