But not that : Caryl Churchill’s political shape shifting at the turn of the millennium

Aston, Elaine (2013) But not that : Caryl Churchill’s political shape shifting at the turn of the millennium. Modern Drama, 56 (2). pp. 145-164. ISSN 0026-7694

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Abstract

The article focuses on Caryl Churchill’s This Is a Chair (1997) and Far Away (2000) to analyse Churchill’s political shape shifting at the turn of the millennium, when ideological resistance to capitalism has all but disappeared. Positioning This Is a Chair as a critical-political turning point in Churchill’s repertoire, I argue that René Magritte’s visual thinking about the arbitrary relation of words and things is seminal to Churchill’s struggle to create a political-theatre canvas. In relation to Far Away, I demonstrate how Churchill’s critique of global capitalism involves a dissolve – the appearing, yet disappearing, traces of the Brechtian dramaturgy of her earlier playwriting, and a renewal of the epic through a composition that is both experiential and elliptical. Ultimately, the article argues that the need to impress on audiences the urgency of dis-identifying with capitalism informs Churchill’s political perspective through a dialectic shift from Herbert Blau’s “imminence of a ‘not-yet’” to the negative of “but not that.”

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Modern Drama
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1208
Subjects:
?? caryl churchillthis is a chairfar awaymagrittenegative dialecticpolitical theatreliterature and literary theory ??
ID Code:
64815
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
30 May 2013 09:04
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 13:58