Description
Book SynopsisThe first in-depth assessment of myth '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. -- .
Trade ReviewSelective 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
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Table of ContentsIntroduction
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
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