Contemporary British Drama - Essay Example

With reference to either two plays by the same playwright or two different plays you have studied on the module, what ideas of Britain and British identity strike you as most significant Contemporary British drama can be characterized with strong and lengthy theatrical tradition which tries to reinforce and reflect the recent developments in modern British culture and society. British drama during the 20th century attempts to employ innovative strategies and themes which not only will interests the audience, but also will create a certain emotion in the viewers and eventually, motivate them to seek moral justifications of the theatrical performance. Inevitably, variety of historical factors has influenced the tendencies of the new generation of dramatist. Contemporary British drama throughout the 20th century has constantly challenged the established social norms and values on the island, as well as the political and cultural issues. In terms of productivity and impact, we can say that since Shakespeare's time, no other historical period has produced more controversial, brilliant and self-reflected plays as the drama in the last century. Changes in British society affected, influenced and are reflected in the tendencies in the theater. As intellectuals, playwrights react to the social changes, political and economic conditions, to internal governmental conflicts and depict them in their plays. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate that British identity seen through the eyes of contemporary drama has become unconventional. In the plays "Feel Good" by Alistair Beaton and "In - Yer - Face Theatre" by Alek Sierz Britishness is explored to its minute details in shocking and unexpected revelations. The idea about Britain and British identity that I found most significant and which is conveyed through the above plays is the total and absolute honesty, which at times borders with our own innermost moral principles. The other idea that strikes me is that even though, the plays that I choose are comedies, they dwell on current reality and biting social and political issues feed both the dramatist and audiences imagination. The tendency of the British modern drama is to transform and modify essential theatrical elements like dialogue, set and characterization to extremes of parody, satire, exaggerations and deconstructions. Contemporary British drama is essential, because it is part of the cultural dialogue between intellectuals and the whole nation. Plays deliver ideas, not only about the British identity, but also about its self-presentation to the rest of the world. Modern, British playwrights investigate the subtle changes in the kingdom and its socio-political quests. The contemporary British drama is wittily celebrating the class changes and recent class identifications and the formation of a different elite class. The modern age gives the opportunity for playwrights to probe into the existential social anxieties and torment the British nation. The stage is like a mirror for the nation's identity and writers use their verbal and visual resources to describe what matters for their fellow-citizens. Many of the dramatics that successfully presented their plays in the 1970s and 1980s, still continue to actively produce remarkable intellectual masterpieces. Alistair Beaton is Scottish journalist with left wing political convictions. In the last two decades besides his media presentations he succeeded as a very productive novelist and playwright. In his play "Feel Good" Beaton creates an unprecedented political farce. This play is a comic revenge on New Labour spin and the government's grimness. Alistair Beaton's play is about the clandestine panic that underlies Labour's preoccupation with spin. In short, it is about money, though behind the play lurks a deeper point that the author wants to make. Although, it was made to be a comedy, this play is best understood through its current political reality. This is something that Beaton was aiming for. The play is set in a seaside hotel on the eve of a party conference speech delivered by the Prime Minister. On the background anti-capitalists have rampaged the streets. Meanwhile environmentalists seized control of the conference. The play is abundant in lines about millionaires obtaining passports. The dripping wet Cabinet Minister is terrified by the confession that the land was used to genetically modify hops. By accident the hops were delivered to the beer supply chain and caused beer consumers in Britain to grow female breasts. A talented and powerful political satirist Beaton used the New Labour spin to draw the inspiration for his material. His award-winning 2001 play "Feel Good" handles political, social and economic issues at the same time. The play reflects Beaton's and presumably the general public growing unease with the culture of spin that Labour party was rumored about. The attempt to avert a genetically modified crop scandal is the fundamental concept of the play. The realistic honesty in the play borders to an extent with the ironic and sarcastic political situation in Britain at that time. This was what strikes me the most in Beaton's language and characters. The general idea that the author wanted to convey is that British nation is not the reserved and modest one that everyone believe it is. It can go on strikes, it can severely oppose to politicians and their policies, it can act in untypically rude British manner. The exaggerated ideas and characters in the play made it as sardonic as only a witty playwright can do it. Beaton has written this play in a vicious satirical fantasy. "A nation's history is not simply a record of events but is an agreed version of the past which embodies present values (Peacock, 1991, p. 2). Experienced playwright like Beaton knows this and incorporates real political issues with profound excellence in "Feel Good". The play embodies the present British political values. Even if they are hyperbolized to the extent to be funny and to reflect the mockery of the public, they still carry a grain of truth from the British politicians' identification. Modern writers try to rethink and re-evaluate the identity of the nation. This appears to be the most difficult task of the dramatists - how to show to the new generation the current social and political issues, how to explain them and how to reassess their meaning. For the old generation controversial and scandalous modern play such as "Feel Good" are very polemic. The old generation tries to accept the political state of affair, but then their generation ultimately rejects the contemporary attempts for interpretations. It seems that the generation's perceptions of the present and past is connected to their moral values, which now are so rapidly undergoing all sorts of transformations that it is impossible to get the idea of modern British society. The backroom political milieu that Beaton produces is cleverly performed by the actors and engulfs the audience into intrigues, nastiness and hypocrisy. Those lines match the ideas that I have expressed that contemporary British drama is surrounded by total honesty, which both challenges the British identity about its own self-perceptions. Another question worth examining is whether the way Beaton depicts the modern political life and people is really what British Members of Parliament are Is this the overall impression that British nation leaves Unlike many comic writers Beaton is famous for the lightness of his approach. Though, most of his plays proved controversial, actually, this is expected from intellectuals creating in a period busted with social protest and unrest. Beaton is one of the best satirists writing in Britain now. The reason for this is that he gets to know politicians really well, and he diagnoses them with incredibly authentic voice. Political oppositions and various perceptions of political life like spin, centralization, representation on Downing No 10 are claims delivered with Beaton's own political beliefs. This casts some ideological preferences, however, Beaton is not hiding them, either. His political associations are just another aspect of the contemporary British drama - honesty. Nowadays it is more important how political policies are represented than the effects they have and how they are formed. Namely this is what Beaton satirizes in his play "Feel Good" - to what extent public relations can manipulate both the media and pubic impressions. What Beaton captures amazingly well is the press secretary's ambitions to exercise control over all escalating events. At another scene the deputy Prime Minister and head of the transport gets stuck on a train and looks for alternatives how to escape from the angry commuters. At the same time BBC is trying to broadcast the leading news with the story of conference havoc. Although, this is satire, Beaton relies primarily on the moral positivism. What he honestly suggests with his play is for Labour to put radical policies before presentation. In the second act, though, the humour gradually fades away Beaton exposes to the audience that political world is a media dominated world. Most of all, political parties are preoccupied with managing the news to a degree that borders with insanity. In the first act of his play Beaton is abundant is jokes with words cleverly coined out of political clichs. Whereas the second act demonstrates a more sinister and obscure side. Party leaders are obsessed with political schemes and how to suppress the truth with witty political maneuvers. I think here British identity in the political scene merges with the worldwide political identity. Although we can recognize the typical representation of the British politicians through the linguistic mannerism, we can clearly define their actions as internationally understood and applied. Beaton carefully guides the actors to exquisite performance and leaves the audience mesmerized from laughter. What struck me is actually, the British audacity of saying out loud the real names for the political issues. The British etiquette and tactical words were all gone in Beaton's play. I identify this as the prime moment of truth for the audience. We discover that British identity has undergone a sudden and visible change - from the Victorian, puritan values to openly speaking about political violations and cover-up plans. Beaton portrays in "Feel Good" British political world which encompasses all possible spheres of life. Through the theatrical form of art, the establishes a communication both with the viewer and with his inner understanding about how important are politics in today's British social life. The audience witnesses a perpetual debate about power and dominance and how these have affected Brits as a nation. The question that Beaton asks is "how we as a nation can trust politicians" Policy-makers proved it that their viewpoints severely oppose the moral beliefs they falsely stand for. Thus, this is tantamount to consciously misleading a whole nation. What I would call is that British politicians are committing an act of treason to their own people. This was I believe Beaton is trying to illustrate in "Feel Good". With a provocative language Beaton leads in playwrights' community with his revolutionary political assault, naming Prime Minister, his deputies, and Cabinet ministers. Looked through the prism of history we can see that they are early 20th century writers that tried to expose the defects of British society - Show, Wilde, for instance. Their plays offered theme variations and intentionally alternative interpretations of the social events at that time. The tendency in modern British drama is to be exceptionally honest. For me, this trend seems to illustrate also the changes in British identity. These alterations in British respectability provoke open discussions of the degree of self-censorship that publicly performed plays should have. There are interest groups that perceive such openly addressed personality as threatening the overall image of the group leaders. In the play we can read that the farcical commentary is overdosed and there are certain moments when the sharp satirical points are hysterical. Beaton does this to expose Labour hypocrisy and spin culture and double-dealings. He destroys all boundaries and presents the realistic face of British politicians who lust for control and power. The equilibrium in the play is kept between the sardonic remarks and the hopelessly irrelevant efforts of the players to overcome the disastrous situations they fall into. This is splendidly intermingled with political rudeness and no trace of respect for human nature. To smoothly transit to the related topic, I want to connect it with the arguments already presented that contemporary British drama is highly influenced by the social, economic and political events taking place. Seirz (2001) was the first one to outline, theorize and celebrate the kind of new writing techniques called "in-yer-face theatre". Emerging in the mid 1990s, this term was often compared to other avant-garde styles such as "new brutalism" and "neo-Jacobean" (Seirz, 2001). Somehow Seirz succeeded in imposing this kind of writing as his preferred style. This style derived from the street exclamation or expression "in-your-face". This suggests that the viewer is enforced to see something very close to his face, intruding his personal space and his invading his thoughts. The "in-yer-face" theatre implies the crossing of all acceptable, known and normal boundaries. In short, it depicts in the most natural way everyday situations. This idea about the theatre coincides with my arguments that British nation has altered its identity and it has become absolutely honest in verbalizing its most poignant social, economic and political problems Seirz's "in-yer-face theatre shocks with its explicit and unpardonable language and paralyzes the audience with the extremism of the images is presents. British identity here can be explained as visually transmitting emotional frankness, something that is not expected from the stereotypical idea of the British as reserved and strict moralists. British playwrights' honesty unsettles all established norms with "in-yer-face" theatre and disturbs its audience with its sharp and acute quests for the real names the play is discussing. Seirz (2001) is not interested in showing current social and political events in isolated atmosphere, forcing audience to struggle in attempts to decipher them. Instead, he aims to experiment with viewers' feelings and emotional stability, scandalizing and challenging them. "In-yer-face" theatre is an experimental one, one that seeks to provoke and disturbs. Gradually, it become the dominant style for play writing in the last decade. Seirz (2001) notes that the basic argument in such kinds of plays is to create uniquely different aesthetic sensibility in the audience and in the public. In a way, this can be compared to absurdism during the 1950s and to the Macmillan's kitchen-sink drama. Seirz (2001) explains also how this is done - through the use of filthy language, complete nudity, performers have sex in front of the audience, violence breaks all stage norms, characters humiliating each other, broken taboos and unconventional dramatic structures. All artistic forms are subverted "in-yer-face" theatre. There is not a subject which could not be brought up, mentioned or discussed. Where is British humble and courteous attitude It has disappeared and on its place we see completely unfamiliar British behavior. As if modernity and artistic modifications succeeded in changing the whole nation's identity. Though, I understand the mutations that the British identity underwent, it is difficult to explain to a foreigner how and why exactly this prolonged process took place. Presumably, the British themselves will be astonished by this fact, if they are asked to clarify if their identity has changed and in what way. Given the circumstances, we can say that identity is fluid by nature and has the ability to take the form of whatever shape it has been put. We can link the concept of fluid identity with the cultural acceleration (Appadurai, 1996). This explains how cultural changes can affect identity and actually sets a perfect example in the case of British identity. What is more, because cultural influence is so vast, identity flows so fast from one change to another, that it is difficult to mark all the passed stages. Sierz (2001) presents in a nutshell the dramatic cultural upsurge of contemporary British drama. The new writing for the British stage in the past decade or so, transformed the nation's self-realization and brought up discussions about the newly emerging fresh generations of "in-yer-face" playwrights. In his book Sierz (2001) tries to validate his argument that "in-yer-face" theatre is the most appropriate and exhaustive description of British contemporary drama tendencies. Social and political issues are referred to in the most obvious and eroding manner. This phenomenon in theatre is interconnected with the change of British identity. On hand one, mass culture and consumption influences the identity and on the other hand, the very changed identity enforces artists to create unconventional and absurd artistic forms. I find it striking how the two processes of the cultural modification and fluid identity combine. The changed British identity also affects the way people react to events. "In-yer-face" theatre shocking at the beginning now seems to be normally perceived and accepted. It is no longer the distinctly unfamiliar genre that it was 10-15 years ago. Soon, the drama will need other means to express its ever-changing demands and explosive intellectual prospects. What I find amazing is the British way of showing and naming real events, people and subjects. There are no talks around the topic, this are called with their natural names, with no shame or discomfort. Undoubtedly, the British learned to overcome this difficulty. Disturbing and provoking audience with language and dramatic effects is the only way to literally catch both the interest in the viewer, but also to extract from him the centuries old identity clichs that the British are famous for - reserved, self-controlled and undeviating. Talking about politics is a topic that disrupts the spiritual tranquility of every British person. This is what the tourist guides say about conversation subjects. Apparently, this is no longer the case, since the majority of nowadays plays are based on political issues and deal with the representation of political power. Mark Ravenhill is e representative of the "in-yer-face" theatrical style. His play "Shopping and f." a 14 year-old boy is begging a customer to sodomize him with a knife. Ravenhill's play appalls the audience with its graphic and alarming gay sex scenes ever witnessed on stage. Ravenhill (cited in Herman, 1998) says that the English people are interested in characters and psychology. Few of the characters in "Shopping and f." are gay men. Unlike other similar characters that Ravenhill depicts in other play, here the gay men carry a positive representation of homosexuality. For them hugging is accomplishing a sexual contact. The title itself suggests that Ravenhill's men do have sex on the stage. Precautions are taken for some nudity scenes and actors are discreetly covered. However, nothing is made tactful when it comes to the encounters. They are savage, nasty and filthy and present the meaningless of it all. For Ravenhill's characters sex is more connected to shopping than to love. Having sex is just another transaction for them. In an interview with Herman (1998) Ravenhill notes that with his play he wanted to capture what the new British generation is like. The playwright was trying to expose the dirt and desperation among the British, unemployed youth, who was keen on doing everything in order to survive. Ravenhill (cited in Herman, 1998) says that prostitution, phone sex and selling drugs is usual practice in youth communities and neighourhoods in Britain. Moreover, the is astonished why society is shocked by the fact, that he bases his play on regularly occurring practices among the youth. They are not exaggerated. They just present the reality as it is. And Ravenhill succeeded in his mission to accurately create gay characters, not swinging from one extreme to another, but depicting exactly the youth gay society, the way normal people see is from aside. Ravelhill (cited in Herman, 1998) concludes that contrary to all the dirt that is poured on gay society, they are many positive images that deserve to be mentioned. What the effeminate homosexual men need is some really destructive images and characters to concuss their sweet hibernating life. Ravenhill (cited in Herman, 1998) famously calls himself a post-gay writer, assuming that if there could be a post-feminist period, there must certainly exist a post-gay artistic age too. His sexually straight characters do not do much better in life, either. There is a hopelessly deluded actress, who struggles with her feeling for her gay roommate. Another character is a homicidal gangster. Ravelhill is an example of modern British identity. He writes painfully honestly about masculinity, real life and people. He is the embodiment of contemporary British playwrights who are not afraid to name thing straightforwardly. Abuse is one of the characteristics of "in-yer-face" favourite and typical themes. Ravenhill tries to lead his audience to disillusionment, to shake their comfortable, ideological beliefs that the things that happen around them exist in reality and we have to talk about them. This honesty, I believe is poking into British society's eyes. Modern playwrights like Ravelhill ultimately change the well-known perceptions about British identity, creating a decade full of explicit scenes of all kind of abuse - emotion, physical, political. Victims and victimizers also vary. Once you can be the victim, but the next day you can fulfill your revenge and become the victimizer. Most importantly, "Shopping and f." attracted the attention partly, due to its provocative title, and partly, because of the sudden desperation for fresh and innovative stage images. The play can be called a piercing critique of the current consumer society, with ironic tome and intensive language. Ravelhill presents contrasted characters in sharp dialogue. He illustrates the horror to face the truth that British society fights to comprehend. Another theme that struck me that characterizes British society and may be society as a whole is the urban alienation in metropolitan areas. Urban alienation is phenomenon accumulated from the sociodemographic effects on society. Metropolitan areas suffer from the urban cultural carnage exercised on them through numerous trends and cultural demonstrations. Contemporary British drama is exactly this kind of cultural tendency that aims to show the vast functions that art can play. "In-yer-face" theatre slaps us in the face with its unsettling works of art and brutal repertoire. "Shopping and f." is kind of black comedy that surprises you with drama, though audience can not easily digest the story, let alone forget the plot. In short, this is the story of perpetual love triangle between criminals, who intersect the dreams and realities of a London drug dealer and a rent boy. Observed from a deeper perspective, the story is about what happens when you decide to overlook the morality, or at times completely ignore it. Things come from bad to worse, particularly when the drug dealer issues an ultimatum to the criminals to provide him with 3000 pounds in seven days. To me the message that Ravelhill tries to convey is simple: everything now is on sale, human nature can be bought and sold, trafficked and manipulated. Humanity is not sacred any more. In the consumer world we live in, everything is a good, even bodies. This is what contemporary British playwrights attempt to present to their audience. Though, many find it funny and entertaining, the seriousness of the matter remains for us to try and change this world conception about values and moral. Corporations, gangsters, mobs, drug dealers are the new leaders in social norms. Pornographers, politicians and new capitalists rule the society and set example to youth. Everyone is taking advantage of situations and people and try to use our additions for their own subversive purposes. People are commodities, and their fate is sold like everyday goods. In Ravelhill's world life is very predictable, because it is managed by perverts who seeks to obtain the only satisfaction by abusing others. "Shopping and f." explains to the viewer that extreme sensations can divert our sense, but they can also lead to our demise. The inner void that Ravelhill's characters feel can not be re-filled again. They need urgent soul transformation. All seems quite depressing, however, the majority of world's population, of British too, in that matter desperately requires spirit purification. The drug dealer impresses me with his logic, when he announces straightforwardly that "get the money" were the first words written in the Bible. Ravenhill seems to erase millennia of human history. The individual stories of the five characters in "Shopping and f." can not be easily grasped. To a degree the British homour in the play is hardly digestible. The fluidity of the dramatic scenes are intermingled with seriousness of the matter discussed. Where are we going as people, as society and as ideals Are there any moral boundaries not trespasses "Shopping and f." features the sexual exploitation and sexual humiliation all done with pornographic details and clarity as if to further carry the jaded public with its sexual content. I am amazed and stunned by the exceptional veracity that Ravenhill admits in this play. Squalid topics are not taboos for British playwright. Even more they find that talking naturally and disrespectfully about social and political issues is the only way to make the public understand the current problems. Ravenhill exposes in "Shopping and f." the capitalist mentality with a cynical and unpardonable linguistic craft. This way of presenting British identity I found the most significant in contemporary British drama. Both plays "Feel Good" by Alastair Beaton and "Shopping and f." are simplistic. They do not dig into complicated stories, and try to keep the story as real as possible. Both plays claim to the based on biting social events and transformation, either political, economic or personal. Modern British drama is abundant in characters casting drug dealers, porn stars, gay lifestyle, voyeurism, abuse and violent. What strikes me the most is that this is acceptable and that audience appreciates and values such plays. This leads me to believe that British identity travelled to unknown dimensions in self-realization and self-identification. The distance in people is not physical, now it is spiritual. And because in contemporary consumer society, people are over satisfied with goods, they look for other extremes - for example experimental theatres. Dwelling on current reality and biting social and political issues are the ideas that struck me the most in contemporary British drama. The issues presented in both of the plays feed not only the playwrights imagination, but also the hunger so something shocking and disjointed. This demand conveys the notion that British identity underwent incomparable changes, visible only from the outside. People now look for exciting and transgressing deeds. The British like talking about appalling topics, taboos are broken and new boundaries discovered. British identity has altered in unison with the world's rapid culture and hyper-reality situations. What is left of the audience is to accept its ever-changing identity and to continue challenging the stereotypes that others have for the British. Total and absolute honesty and debating political and social issues is what astonished me the most in contemporary British drama. British playwrights as well as viewers have the audacity to openly address all matters, with no borders attached. References: Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Herman, James,1998. Mark Revenhill, Features, issue of New York, Feb.2 [Online] Available at: http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/2160/ [Accessed 17 December 2009] In-yer-face theatre, [Online] Available at http://www.inyerface-theatre.com/intro.html [Accessed 18 December 2009] Peacock, Keith.D. 1991. Radical Stages: Alternative History in Modern British Drama Greenwood Press, Sierz, Aleks, 2001. In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today, Faber & Faber, Read More