Çağdaş İngiliz Tiyatrosu Estetiğinin Değişen Algısı ve Mark Ravenhill

| Research Article Doi: 10.18795/ma.70519 Çağlayan DOĞAN Okutman | Instructor Gü ü h n Ün v , Y b nc D Bö ü ü, Gü ü h n -Tü y Gü ü h n University, Department of Foreign Languages, Gumushane-Turkey THE CHANGING PERCEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY BRITISH THEATRE AESTHETIC AND MARK RAVENHILL Abstract This study aims to scrutinize h 1990’ British theatre aesthetic and in-yer-face theatre which experienced many fluctuations that determine the movement of current theatre tendency. In-yer-face theatre was initiated in the early 1990s by appearing Sarah Kane on Royal Court. In this study, it is put forward the historical background of the British theatre from Look Back in Anger (1956) that revealed a new theatre aesthetic in that term. After the background information about in-yer-face theatre, it mainly focuses on Mark Ravenhill who is one of the most prominent figures of British Theatre n1990’ wh ch called nasty nineties that includes in violence, scenes of rape, cannibalism, depression, alienation, consumerist culture, and sexuality on stage. Keywords: Contemporary British Theatre, Mark Ravenhill, In-yer-face Theatre. ÇAĞDAŞ İNGİLİZ TİYATROSU ESTETİĞİNİN DEĞİŞEN ALGISI VE MARK RAVENHILL Özet Bu ç S h K n ’ n 1990’ n b nd Roy Cou hn nd görün nd n on o y ç n ç ğd y o g n yön veren bi ço n ç hn o n Britanya tiyatrosunun on y d n ön ç nd n b o n u n y o v onun n ön c nd n b o n R v nh ’ ü ç ğ y nc y ç d . Bu ç Britanya tiyatrosunda yeni bir y o g n o y ç n Loo B c n ng oyunund n b yd n g n h g g bilgiler v d n on , oyun nd y y , d p yon, y b nc , ü op u u, c n g b öğ b nd n ö ü do n d y d n n u n y onun ön ç n oyun y z n nd n R v nh ’ n dön üzerine n od n . Anahtar Kelimeler: Ç ğd Britanya Tiyatrosu, Mark Ravenhill, Su n T y o. INTRODUCTION f h g p c of John O bo n ’ Look Back in Anger, the contemporary British theatre experienced many fluctuations in the twentieth century that directly depend on the social and political agenda which occurred in the post-war period. The end of the S cond Wo d W n : “ on ng nd pov y n cono c nd u of this economic weakness, a greater degree of political dependence upon othe coun ” Çağlayan DOĞAN, “The Changing Perception of Contemporary British Theatre Aesthetic and Mark Ravenhill” Mavi Atlas, 7/2016: 113-128. (Skovmand, 1991: 7). In 1945, the Labour Party acceded and provided young people coming from the labour-class the opportunity to get involved in the higher education process and thus create a welfare society, but people were still suffering from the d uc on of h S cond Wo d W . In 1956, h Su z c “ n wh ch h u ho y of British imperial impulses was judged, globally and domestically, to have overstepped its po c ” (R b y, 2003: 29) developed, Hungary was invaded by Russia, the predominant view in the political arena was oppositional and the interest of Britain focused on the politically conscious. Because of the loss of reputation in the economic and political arena, The Suez crisis also initiated a poignant discussion on public opinion. The British people who believed that they were still the superpower of the world were deeply disappointed as a result of the loss of Suez. In the 1950s and 1960s, Britain came up from behind its European neighbours with the effects of social drawbacks that occurred in this period. The increasing unemployment and rising prices were the most significant problems which Britain faced. The young generation, who were forced to maintain their lives in hard economic circumstances, started to inquire about the political system and the culture in which they grew up. At the end of the twentieth century, the novel was the most dominant sub-branch of literature, since it was the most obtainable and popular cultural literature sub-branch in this period. In the 1950s, the social and political visions were introverted, the novels of this period, which were quite national, and limited, reproduced the British social milieu. At that time, the art of novel was a genre which appealed to middle class reader. As for the genre of theatre, it was an art which was heavily affected by the Second World War. F f y p c n of B n’ h w n ou of bu n n London un S cond Wo d War. Because of the war, most of the theatre halls were destroyed and the war conditions caused a deep sorrowful aura in the society, and therefore it was not possible to perform anything on stage in this period. After several stagnant years, T.S. Eliot, Christopher Fry, and Terence Rattigan restored the British theatre over the period of ten y . h , John O bo n ’ Look Back in Anger, which reproduced the social and political circumstances and the milieu of the period in which it was written, breathed a sigh of relief into the post-war British theatre. It is considered that the debut of Look Back in Anger “ h b -through of the new drama into the British h ” (Inn , 1992: 98). Michael Billington who is the one of the most notable theatre critics of The Guardian highlights the importance of it in his State of the nation: British Theatre since 1945: 114 Çağlayan DOĞAN, “The Changing Perception of Contemporary British Theatre Aesthetic and Mark Ravenhill” Mavi Atlas, 7/2016: 113-128. O bo n ’ Look Back in Anger, which opened at the Royal Court in May 1956, as ushering in a revolution in British theatre. [...] What actually happened, both in theatre and society, was something more complex: a perceptible shift in the balance of power and a growing tension between an entrenched conservatism and a burgeoning youth culture impatient with old forms and established institutions. The Tories were still in office and many familiar British rituals, from the Boat Race and Royal Ascot to the Last Night of the Proms, remained unchanged; but there is little doubt that the country itself became a more turbulent and violent place. (2007: 84) This new spirit unearths a sort of long-awaited freshness in British theatre which had been in the doldrums since the beginning of the new century. The playwrights of this period started to write their plays for the Royal Court which supported and paid young writers. They wrote to take on the problems and sensibility of twentieth century man and depicted their anger against the system. Those writers unveiled their anger via their plays which grabbed truth instead of degenerate bourgeoisie theatre and gave voice to social and political issues of the period in which they lived. Since capitalism was the solitary economic system in existence in the monopolar world at the end of the Cold War, and since so many developments occurred, the pre-existing modernism and postmodernism which had come to exist were also surpassed, making a new kind of aesthetic inevitable to express the political and social atmosphere. The post-war period was reclaimed in the Renaissance of British theatre after the Elizabethan period, but the playwrights focused on similar topics in their plays and people grew accustomed to the issues which the writers dealt with. The new playwrights (...truncated)