THE LABYRINTHINE SPACE AS REFLECTED IN PHILIP RIDLEY’S PLAY MERCURY FUR

Abstract

This study focuses on Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur (2005), a play which explores various meanings related to a physical labyrinth, memory as a maze, mirror/glass as a labyrinth, etc. The present study aims to disclose primarily the significance of the physical labyrinth, presented in Ridley’s play mostly as a radical space, a reminiscent of Foucault’s “heterotopia”, in which the characters cannot be domiciled, but are rather haunted, their inevitable entrapment creating a perpetual existential feeling of anxiety. This study also attempts to discuss the issue of memory as a maze, revealing the playwright’s concern for the precariousness of memory while the national or individual identities are pursued. In a space in which everyone and everything is manipulated, Ridley’s characters, in their struggle for survival, are forced to re-negotiate all the known thresholds of cruelty and transgression in order to discover the path leading them to humanness and morality. 

Keywords

• Labyrinth
• heterotopia
• memory
• reality
• Philip Ridley
• Mercury Fur

PHILIP RIDLEY’İN KÜRKLÜ MERKÜR ADLI OYUNUNDA LABİRENTİMSİ MEKANIN TEMSİLİ

Öz

Bu çalışma, Philip Ridley’in bir labirent olarak hafıza ve ayna olarak labirent gibi fiziksel labirent ile bağlantılı çeşitli anlamları inceleyen Kürklü Merkür (2005) adlı oyununa odaklanmaktadır. Bu çalışma, öncelikle Ridley’in oyununda Foucault’nun “heterotopya”sını hatırlatan bir şekilde radikal bir alan olarak yansıtılan ve karakterlere yersizliğin ve yönsüzlüğün musallat olduğu fiziksel labirentin önemini ortaya koymayı amaçlar. Karakterlerin kaçınılmaz tutsaklığı onlarda bir varoluşsal kaygı yaratır. Bu çalışma ayrıca labirent olarak hafıza kavramını tartışarak milli ya da bireysel kimlikler konu edilirken oyun yazarının hafızanın güvenilmezliğine dair vurgusunu ortaya koyar. Herkesin ve her şeyin manipüle edildiği bir alanda varoluş mücadelesi veren Ridley’in karakterleri, kendilerini insanlığa ve ahlaka götüren yolu keşfetmek için bilinen bütün zalimlik ve yoldan çıkma eşiklerini yeniden değerlendirmeye zorlanırlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Philip Ridley
• Labirent
• heterotopya
• hafıza
• gerçeklik
• Kürklü Merkür

Kaynakça

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