Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9
Abstract
Abstract
This paper contends that theatrical form serves as a locus for the material constitution and political contestation of gender. This research analyses Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 and Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale through Judith Butler’s theory of performativity. Cloud 9 employs parody and structural fragmentation to illustrate that gender is citational and historically contingent. In contrast, The Love of the Nightingale emphasises bodily violation and enforced silence to uncover the violent constraints of performative reconstruction. The paper illustrates that theatre, through the juxtaposition of metatheatrical alienation and tragic materiality, not only mirrors gender stereotypes but also actively constructs and critiques the regulatory structures that uphold them.
Keywords: Gender performativity; theatrical subversion; feminist dramaturgy; gender intelligibility; silence and voice; Butlerian critique.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
World Languages, Literature and Culture (Other)
Journal Section
Research Article
Early Pub Date
May 8, 2026
Publication Date
-
Submission Date
March 8, 2026
Acceptance Date
May 4, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Number: Advanced Online Publication
APA
Abdussemedoğlu, C., & Aydın, A. (2026). Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, Advanced Online Publication. https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG
AMA
1.Abdussemedoğlu C, Aydın A. Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9. EJELL. 2026;(Advanced Online Publication). https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG
Chicago
Abdussemedoğlu, Cemile, and Asım Aydın. 2026. “Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, no. Advanced Online Publication. https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG.
EndNote
Abdussemedoğlu C, Aydın A (May 1, 2026) Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature Advanced Online Publication
IEEE
[1]C. Abdussemedoğlu and A. Aydın, “Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9”, EJELL, no. Advanced Online Publication, May 2026, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG
ISNAD
Abdussemedoğlu, Cemile - Aydın, Asım. “Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature. Advanced Online Publication (May 1, 2026). https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG.
JAMA
1.Abdussemedoğlu C, Aydın A. Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9. EJELL. 2026. Available at https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG.
MLA
Abdussemedoğlu, Cemile, and Asım Aydın. “Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, no. Advanced Online Publication, May 2026, https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG.
Vancouver
1.Cemile Abdussemedoğlu, Asım Aydın. Subverted Roles: Analysing Gender Constructs in Wertenbaker’s Love of the Nightingale and Churchill’s Cloud 9. EJELL [Internet]. 2026 May 1;(Advanced Online Publication). Available from: https://izlik.org/JA72HK67WG