Brexit Ülkesi’nde Ortaya Çıkan Kimlikler: Clint Dyer ve Roy Williams’ın Death of England Üçlemesi

Abstract

Mevcut makale, Roy Williams ve Clint Dyer’ın Death of England üçlemesi aracılığıyla, Birleşik Krallık’ta Brexit sonrası dönemde siyasi kimliklerin ve kültürel çatışmaların kesişimini incelemektedir. Hâlihazırda derin kimlik bölünmeleriyle şekillenen Birleşik Krallık’ta bireylerin kimlik, aidiyet ve milliyetçilikle nasıl yüzleştiklerini ve değişen sosyo-politik bağlamda bu kavramları nasıl yeniden tanımladıklarını ele almaktadır. Üçlemenin ilk oyunu Death of England, Michael’ın babası Alan’ın milliyetçi ve yabancı karşıtı görüşleriyle hesaplaşmasını konu alır. Oyun, Brexit’in bireysel ve kuşaklar arası gerilimleri nasıl gün yüzüne çıkardığını inceleyerek kimlik krizlerini kişisel düzlemde ele alır. İkinci oyun Death of England: Delroy, anlatıyı Siyah Britanyalı bir karakter olan Delroy’un perspektifine kaydırarak, Delroy’un marjinalleşmesine rağmen Avrupa Birliği’nden ayrılma yönünde oy kullanmasını tartışır. Bu çatışma, ırk, göç ve sınıf dinamiklerinin milliyetçi söylemlerle nasıl iç içe geçtiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Death of England: Closing Time ise kadın karakterler Carly ve Denise’in perspektifine odaklanarak ulusal kimlik siyasetinin toplumsal cinsiyet boyutuna eleştirel bir bakış sunar. Makalede, aynı zamanda başlığını da aldığı Sobolewska ve Ford’un (2020) "Brexitland" kavramından yararlanılarak, Brexit’in geleneksel ekonomik sınıf çatışmalarını geri planda bırakarak kimlik temelli ayrışmaları ön plana çıkardığı tartışılmaktadır. Sonuç olarak oyunlar, Brexit’in yarattığı duygusal ve ideolojik kırılmaları sahneye taşıyarak tiyatronun bu dönüşümü anlamada kritik bir araç olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

• Brexit
• Kimlik Politikaları
• Milliyetçilik
• Çağdaş İngiliz Tiyatrosu
• Britanyalılık

Brexitland’s Emerging Identities in Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’s Death of England Trilogy

Abstract

This article examines the intersection of political identities and cultural conflicts in the post-Brexit United Kingdom through Roy Williams and Clint Dyer’s Death of England trilogy. It examines how individuals in the United Kingdom, already marked by deep identity divisions, confront identity, belonging and nationalism, and how they redefine these concepts in a changing socio-political context. The first play in the trilogy, Death of England, is about Michael coming to terms with his father Alan’s nationalist and xenophobic views. The play explores how Brexit has exposed individual and generational tensions and addresses identity crises on a personal level. The second play, Death of England: Delroy, shifts the narrative to the perspective of a Black British character, examining Delroy’s vote to leave the European Union despite his marginalisation. This conflict reveals how race, immigration and class dynamics are intertwined with nationalist discourses. Death of England: Closing Time, on the other hand, critiques the gendered dimension of national identity politics by focusing on the perspectives of female characters Carly and Denise. Drawing on Soboleska and Ford’s (2020) concept of Brexitland, which also gives its title to the book, the article discusses how Brexit has pushed traditional economic class conflicts into the background and brought identity-based divisions to the forefront. As a result, the plays bring the emotional and ideological fractures created by Brexit to the stage, demonstrating that theatre is a critical tool for understanding this transformation.

Keywords

• Brexit
• Identity Politics
• Nationalism
• Contemporary British Theatre
• Britishness

References

1. Akbar, A. (2020, November 5). Death of England: Delroy review – brash and brilliant theatre. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/nov/05/death-of-england-delroy-review-olivier-national-theatre-london-roy-williams-clint-dyer
2. Akbar, A. (2023, October 10). Death of England: Closing Time review – riotous comedy with a serious sting. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/oct/10/death-of-england-closing-time-review-dorfman-national-theatre-hayley-squires-clint-dyer-roy-williams
3. Besirevic, V. (2020). A short history of Brexit. In T. Ilić & M. Božić (Eds.), Nomophylax: Collection of papers in honor of Srđan Šarkić (pp. 621–645). PFUUB & Službeni Glasnik.
4. Bizumic, B. (2020). Ethnocentrism. In Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences (pp. 1415–1418). Springer International Publishing.
5. Brown, H. (2017). Post-Brexit Britain: Thinking about ‘English nationalism’ as a factor in the EU referendum. International Politics Reviews, 5(1), 1–12.
6. Butler, D., & Stoke, D. (1974). Political change in Britain: Basis of electoral choice. Springer.
7. Calhoun, C. (2017). Populism, nationalism and Brexit. Brexit: Sociological Responses, 57-76.
8. Clark, A. (2018). Political parties in the UK. Bloomsbury Publishing.

9. Curtice, J. (2018). The emotional legacy of Brexit: How Britain has become a country of ‘remainers’ and ‘leavers’. National Centre for Social Research Report.
10. Dinan, D. (2004). Europe recast: A history of European Union (Vol. 373). Palgrave Macmillan.
11. Fontaine, P. (2010). Europe in 12 lessons (p. 6). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
12. Harris, J. (1992). War and social history: Britain and the home front during the Second World War. Contemporary European History, 1(1), 17–35.
13. Helm, T. (2016, September 3). Margaret Thatcher would not have supported Brexit, says top aide. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/03/margaret-thatcher-would-not-have-supported-brexit
14. Henderson, A., Jeffery, C., Wincott, D., & Wyn Jones, R. (2017). How Brexit was made in England. The British journal of politics and international relations, 19(4), 631-646.
15. Jensen, M. J., & Snaith, H. (2016). When politics prevails: The political economy of a Brexit. Journal of European Public Policy, 23(9), 1302–1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2016.1174531
16. McDonough, F. (2016). Class and politics. In British cultural identities (pp. 199–222). Routledge.
17. Norris P, Inglehart R. Brexit. In: Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge University Press; 2019:368-406.
18. Porritt, J. (1989). The United Kingdom: The dirty man of Europe? RSA Journal, 137(5396), 488–500.
19. Richardson, R. (2015). British values and British identity: Muddles, mixtures, and ways ahead. London Review of Education.
20. Sobolewska, M., & Ford, R. (2020). Brexitland. Cambridge University Press.
21. Standing, G. (2011). The precariat: The new dangerous class. Bloomsbury Academic.
22. Storry, M., & Childs, P. (Eds.). (2022). British cultural identities. Taylor & Francis.
23. Taylor, A. (1965). The road to an "Englishman's house...". Romance Philology, 19(2), 279–285.
24. Taylor, C. (2020). Representing the Windrush generation: Metaphor in discourses then and now. Critical Discourse Studies, 17(1), 1–21.
25. Voas, D., & Crockett, A. (2005). Religion in Britain: Neither believing nor belonging. Sociology, 39(1), 11–28.
26. Wayne, M. (2018). England’s discontents: Political cultures and national identities. Lightning Source Inc.
27. Williams, R. (2023, September 12). ‘We messed with some heads’: Roy Williams on tackling a torn nation in Death of England. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/sep/12/roy-williams-death-of-england-clint-dyer-national-theatre
28. Williams, R., & Dyer, C. (2024). Death of England: The plays. Methuen Drama.