Mary Trotter’s “Translating Women into Irish Theatre History”

陳郁仁

摘要

The essay discusses to what extent women’s voices have been heard in contemporary Irish drama. According to Mary Trotter, Irish women have not received much attention nor treated fairly within the tradition of nationalist drama, but always have to represent “the nation, the land, the desires or responsibilities of male characters” (601). As Trotter suggests, few Irish women has been delineated in “authentic, complex, autonomous” manners (601). To more closely examine the ignored experiences of Irish women, contemporary playwrights are developing new theatrics by placing female characters as leading protagonists, employing alternative forms in theatre, and so forth.

However, not all the audiences have been open-minded about female playwrights and their works, since the Irish theatre used to be male-dominated since the turn of the twentieth century. In this article, Mary Trotter exemplifies two distinguished woman playwrights in the 1980s: Marina Carr and Christina Reid, for their plays always highlight the experiences of the Irish women through matrilineal narratives. Their works suggest “their keen ability to translate within both the textual languages of the Irish tradition and the semiotic languages of the realistic stage, taking those traditionally patriarchal discourses and remembering them to make room for Irish women’s lives” (606).

Work Cited

Trotter, Mary. “Translating Women into Irish Theatre History.” Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama. London: Norton, 2009. 600-06. Print.

Sources for Reference

Foley, Imelda. The Girl in the Big Picture: Gender in Contemporary Ulster Theatre. Belfast: Blackstaff, 2003. 58-70. Print.

O’Dwyer, Riana. “The Imagination of Women’s Reality: Christina Reid and Marina Carr.” Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre. Ed. Eamonn Jordan. Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2000. 236-48. Print.