David Hare’s Proposal of an Alternative Religion to Object to the Commercial Religion of Thatcherism

Year 2022, Issue: 48, 107 - 118, 25.12.2022

Tuba Ağkaş Özcan

https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.1218394

Abstract

British political drama of the 1980s was heavily under the influence of Margaret Thatcher’s government and its policies which were introduced to the economy and which diffused into every domain of public life. Political dramatists could not respond immediately to the abrupt changes that occured in social and political life at the beginning of the decade. They got prolific only in the second half of the decade and dared to display the influence of Thatcher’s government not only on the state institutions but also on the private lives of the people. One of the foregoing political dramatists, David Hare, in the 1980s, looked back on his dramaturgy and revised it in tune with the requirements of this new decade. As a result, in The Secret Rapture, staged in 1988, Hare dwells upon the state politics as insinuated into people’s private lives rather than directly criticise it. Moreover, Hare contrasts, in the play, the dominant values of the present decade, in social and private terms, with those embraced in the previous decade. Then, he creates a new moral-religious alternative by the help of the protagonist Isobel in clash with the economical-religious attitude endorsed by Thatcher’s Britain.

Keywords

British political drama, Margaret Thatcher, David Hare, The Secret Rapture, moral-religious alternative

David Hare’in Thatcher Döneminin Ticari Dini Karşısında Alternatif Din Önerisi

Abstract

1980’lerin İngiliz politik tiyatrosu, Margaret Thatcher hükümetinden ve bu hükümetin önce ekonomiye sonra toplumsal hayatın her alanına nüfuz eden politikalarından yoğun biçimde etkilenmiştir. Politik tiyatro yazarları, söz konusu on yılın başlarında, toplumsal ve politik hayatta meydana gelen ani değişikliklere hemen yanıt verememişlerdir. Dönemin ancak ikinci yarısında çok sayıda eser üretmeye başlamışlar ve Thatcher hükümetinin sadece devlet kurumları değil insanların özel hayatları üzerinde de etkisi olduğunu gösterme cesareti bulabilmişlerdir. Politik tiyatronun öncülerinden birisi olan David Hare, 1980’lere geldiğinde, kendi politik tiyatro yazarlığını gözden geçirmiş ve bu yeni dönemin gerekleriyle uyumlu olacak şekilde yenilemiştir. Sonuç olarak, 1988 yılında sahnelenen The Secret Rapture (Sessiz Ölüm) adlı eserinde politikayı, insanların özel hayatlarına sızmış şekilde resmetmiş ve doğrudan devlet politikalarını eleştirme yoluna girmemiştir. Dahası, Hare söz konusu oyunda mevcut dönemin toplumsal ve özel hayat bağlamında geçerli olan değerleriyle bir önceki on yılda benimsenen değerleri karşı karşıya getirmiştir. Sonrasında da, Thatcher’ın ülkesinde uygun görülen ekonomik-dini yaklaşım karşısına, ana karakteri Isobel vasıtasıyla yeni bir ahlaki-dini alternatif çıkarmıştır.

Keywords

İngiliz politik tiyatrosu, Margaret Thatcher, David Hare, The Secret Rapture (Sessiz Ölüm), ahlaki-dini alternatif

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