Brecht’in epik tiyatrosunun Caryl Churchill'in Mad Forest ve Sarah Kane'in Cleansed adlı oyunlarında yansımaları

Öz

Caryl Churchill’in oyunları tematik olarak feminizm, kapitalizm, sosyalizm gibi birçok -izm içerir. Bu durum, Churchill’in dramaturjisinin toplumsal düşüncelerin ve siyasi ideolojilerin eklektik bir birleşimi olduğuna işaret eder. Oyun yazımı ve dramatik uygulamaları bakımından kendine has bir yaratıcılığı olsa da Caryl Churchill geçmişte Avrupa kıtasında gelişmiş dramatik kuram, uygulama ve kültürden istifade etmekten kaçınmaz. Bu bakımdan Churchill, Mad Forest adlı oyununda gözlemlendiği üzere, Bertolt Brecht’in epik tiyatrosunun tematik ve teknik özelliklerinden cömertçe yararlanan bir oyun yazarıdır. Öte yandan, oyunlarında ortaya koyduğu deneyselciliği ile realizmi ve natüralizmi eğip bükerek yeni, post-dramatik bir forma sokan Sarah Kane zorlayıcı, çatışmacı düşünceleri kucaklayışı ve oyunlarında sergileyişi bakımından selefi Churchill’den farklı değildir. Yenilikçi dramatik düşüncelere ve uygulamalara olan yakınlığının yanı sıra Sarah Kane önceki dramatik yaklaşımları da onaylar tıpkı Romalı oyun yazarı Seneca’nın Phaedra oyununu Phaedra’s Love oyunu ile uyarlayışında olduğu gibi. Keza, Cleansed oyununda Sarah Kane’in Brecht’in epik tiyatro anlayışından yararlandığı gözlemlenebilir. Tüm bunların rehberliğinde bu çalışma, Caryl Churchill’in ve Sarah Kane’in sırasıyla Mad Forest ve Cleansed adlı oyunlarının nasıl ve ne derecede epik tiyatro özellikleri barındırdığını irdelemektedir. Bertolt Brecht, Caryl Churchill ve Sarah Kane arasındaki bu üç taraflı etkileşimi irdeleyerek bu çalışma ayrıca görünürde farklı nesillerin birbirlerinden uzak bu oyun yazarları arasındaki dramatik ilişkileri de yeniden anlamlandırmaya çalışmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Sarah Kane
• Caryl Churchill
• epik tiyatro
• Cleansed
• Mad Forest

Elements of Brecht’s epic theatre in Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest and Sarah Kane’s Cleansed

Abstract

Caryl Churchill’s plays thematically embody elements of many -isms such as feminism, sexism, capitalism, and socialism, labeling her dramaturgy as an eclectic combination of social philosophies and political ideologies. Although genuinely creative and original in her writing and theatrical practices, Caryl Churchill does not refrain from making use of preceding European theatrical theory, practice, and culture. In this sense, she is a playwright who benefits considerably from the thematic and technical aspects of the Brechtian epic theatre, which can be observed in her Mad Forest. Sarah Kane, on the other hand, with her experimental dramaturgy that stretches and twists features of realism and naturalism into new post-dramatic forms, is no less different from her predecessor Caryl Churchill in terms of embracing challenging, confrontational ideas and reflecting them in her plays. Notwithstanding with her openness to novel dramatic styles, Sarah Kane, too, acknowledges earlier dramatic aesthetics as seen in her Phaedra’s Love, which is an adaptation of the classical Roman playwright Seneca’s Phaedra. Likewise, it can be observed that Sarah Kane utilizes certain features of the Brechtian epic theater in her Cleansed. Considering these, this article studies how and to what extent Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane maintain the Brechtian dramatic elements in their Mad Forest and Cleansed, respectively. By examining this tripartite interaction among Bertolt Brecht, Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane, the study also tries to reinterpret the dramatic relations among these seemingly distant playwrights of different generations.

Keywords

• Sarah Kane
• Caryl Churchill
• epic theater
• Cleansed
• Mad Forest

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