Nadia Fall’un Home adlı Eserinde Güvencesizlik, Umut ve Umutsuzluk

Öz

This paper examines Nadia Fall’s Home (2013), which delves into youth homelessness in London against the backdrop of the UK government’s austerity measures. These measures included budget reductions in education, health, social security, and culture, along with the introduction of ‘Universal Credit’, a new benefit system. Crafted by Nadia Fall, Home offers a paradoxical panorama that draws attention to resilience and despair, sociability and loneliness in an old building housing over 200 young residents. Known for directing plays such as Three Sisters, The Suicide, Dara, and Chewing Gum Dreams at the National Theatre, Nadia Fall has collaborated with major theatre companies including the Bush Theatre, Chichester, and Lyric Hammersmith. Fall, renowned for her directing prowess, has demonstrated her success as a playwright with Home, which she produced based on over thirty hours of interviews with homeless individuals. This research situates Nadia Fall’s play Home within its historical backdrop, seeking to comprehend the historical factors influencing the political circumstances depicted in the play. It aims to grasp the characters’ social class placement by applying Guy Standing’s concept of the precariat. The paper scrutinizes how Home employs hope and despair, along with a utopian socio-economic background, to highlight the unbearable nature of precariousness and homelessness. Additionally, the paper explores the utopian aspiration for an alternative way of life

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Theatre
• Neoliberalism
• austerity
• homelessness
• precarity

Precarity, Hope and Despair in Nadia Fall’s Home

Öz

Bu makale, Nadia Fall’un Birleşik Krallık hükümetinin kemer sıkma programı bağlamında Londra’daki genç evsizliğe odaklanan Home (2013) adlı oyununu inceler. Kemer sıkma önlemleri; sağlık, eğitim, kültür ve emeklilik alanlarında uygulanan mali kesintileri ve ‘Universal Credit’ adlı yeni bir programın uygulamaya konmasını da içerir. Nadia Fall tarafından yazılan oyun, 200’den fazla gencin yaşadığı eski bir binada dirençlilik ve umutsuzluğa, sosyalleşmeye ve yalnızlığa dikkat çeken paradoksal bir panorama sunar. National Theatre’da Three Sisters, The Suicide, Dara ve Chewing Gum Dreams gibi oyunları yöneten Nadia Fall, Bush Theatre, Chichester ve Lyric Hammersmith gibi önemli tiyatro topluluklarıyla çalışmıştır. Genel olarak yönetmenlik yeteneğiyle tanınan Fall, evsiz bireylerle 30 saatin üzerinde röportajlar yaparak ürettiği Home ile oyun yazarlığı konusunda ne kadar başarılı olduğunu kanıtlamıştır. Bu araştırma, Nadia Fall’un Home adlı oyununu tarihsel bağlamına yerleştirmeyi ve oyunda tasvir edilen politik koşulları etkileyen tarihsel faktörleri ortaya koymayı, Guy Standing’in prekarya kavramını kullanarak karakterlerin sınıfsal konumlarını kavramayı amaçlar. Fall’un Home adlı oyunu, güvencesizlik ve evsizliğin dayanılmazlığına ve alternatif bir yaşam tarzına yönelik ütopik arzuya ışık tutmak için umut ve çaresizliğin yanı sıra ütopik ve sosyo-ekonomik unsurları nasıl kullandığını da sergiler. Sonuç olarak eser, Austerity döneminde Birleşik Krallık’taki genç evsiz bireylerin karşılaştığı zorlu koşullarla mücadeleleri ve sistem temelli eşitsizlikleri gözler önüne serer. Burada birebir tanıklıklar kullanarak prekarya sınıfının kırılgan yapısı oyun karakterleri üzerinden ortaya konur. Home, zor koşullara rağmen, mevcut çalışma, karakterlerin umut ve dirençlerinin ev kavramını sadece fiziksel bir mekândan daha fazlasına dönüştürdüğünü ortaya koyar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• tiyatro
• Neoliberalizm
• kemer sıkma politikaları
• evsizlik
• güvencesizlik

Kaynakça

1. Aragay, M. & Middeke, M. (Eds.). (2017). Of precariousness: Vulnerabilities, responsibilities, communities in 21st-century British drama and theatre. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. https:// doi.org/10.1515/9783110548716
2. Bell, S. & Andrew H. (2015). Masters of the universe, slaves of the market. Harvard University Press.
3. Billington, M. (2013, August 12). Home-review. The Guardian. Retrieved 12 04, 2024, from https:// www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/aug/12/home-review
4. Birke, D. (2017). The ‘underclass’ talks back: Poverty and homelessness in Nadia Fall’s Home (2013).
5. Finance, Terror, and Science on Stage: Current Concerns in 21st-Century British Drama, 125-41.
6. Blyth, M. (2013). Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea. Oxford University Press.
7. Briggs, A. S. A. (1961). The welfare state in historical perspective. European Journal of Sociology, Vol: 2, 221-58.
8. Clarke, A. (2016). The prevalence of rough sleeping and sofa surfing amongst young people in the UK. Social Inclusion, 4(4), 60-72. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v4i4.597

9. Department for Work & Pensions. (2020). Universal credit: further information for families. Retrieved 13 03, 2024, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-your-familyquick-guide/universal-credit-further-information-for-families#support-with-childcare
10. Fall, N. (2013). Home. Nick Hern Books.
11. Foster, A. (2022, July 20). London Olympics: Residents ‘betrayed’ over housing promise. BBC. Retrieved 11 01, 2024, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62138346
12. Gowan, P. (1999). The global gamble: Washington’s faustian bid for World dominance. Verso.
13. Harvey, D. (2007). A brief history of neoliberalism. OUP Oxford.
14. Helleiner, E. (2011). Understanding the 2007–2008 global financial crisis: Lessons for scholars of international political economy. Annual Review of Political Science, 14 (2011), 67-87.
15. Hernandez, T. A. (2021) The consequences of the austerity policies for public services in the UK. Studies in Social Justice, 15 (3), 518-537.
16. Housing Benefit. (2023). Housing benefit eligibility. Retrieved 15 01, 2024, from https://www.gov.uk/ housing-benefit
17. Howard, M. & King J. (2008). The rise of neoliberalism in advanced capitalist economies: A materialist analysis. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
18. Keynes, J.M. (1936). General theory of employment, interest and money. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited.
19. Pettifor, A. (2018, March 4). A triumph for John Osborne’s austerity plan? Not when our social fabric is in tatters. The Guardian. Retrieved 15 02, 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2018/mar/04/george-osborne-eliminating-current-deficit-austerity-terrible-costhubris
20. Planb. (2012). Playing with fire. Retrieved 12 11, 2023, from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/planb/ playingwithfire.html
21. Poinasamy, K. (2013, September). The true cost of austerity and inequality, UK case study, Oxfam International. Retrieved 15 09, 2023, from https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_ attachments/cs-true-cost-austerity-inequality-uk-120913-en_0.pdf
22. Saad-Filho, A. (2021). Endgame: From crisis in neoliberalism to crises of neoliberalism. Human Geography, 14 (1), 133-137.
23. Sanders-McDonagh, E. (2019). New horizon youth offending project: Interim report. Kent, (Unpublished) University of Kent, UK.
24. Stewart, H. & Partington, R. (2018, October 13). Poorest families to lose out on £210 a year owing to benefits Cap. The Guardian. Retrieved 22 10, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/ politics/2018/oct/13/poorest-families-to-lose-out-on-210-a-year-owing-to-benefits-cap
25. Standing, G. (1999). Global feminization through flexible labor: A theme revisited. World Development, 27(3), 583-602.
26. Standing, G. (2011). The precariat: The new dangerous class. Bloomsbury.
27. Standing, G. (2014). A precariat charter: From denizens to citizens. Bloomsbury.
28. Starck, K. (2020). We are trying to stay positive in here: Austerity and agency in Alexander Zeldin’s play Love. Studia Neophilologica, 92(2), 190-208.
29. Stephens, M. & Stephenson, A. (2016). Housing policy in the austerity age and beyond. Social Policy Review, 28, 63-85.
30. Thornton, I. & Iacoella, F. (2022). Conditionality and contentment: Universal credit and UK welfare benefit recipients’ life satisfaction. Journal of Social Policy, 1-29.
31. Wilmarth Jr, A. E. (2008). The dark side of universal banking: Financial conglomerates and the origins of the subprime financial crisis. Connecticut Law Review. Vol: 4: 963-1051.
32. Wainwright, O. (2022, June 30). A massive betrayal: How London’s olympic legacy was sold out. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 09, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/30/amassive-betrayal-how-londons-olympic-legacy-was-sold-out Zeldin, A. (2017). Love. Bloomsbury.