“Umursamazsan ölürsün”: Arnold Wesker’ın Arpalı Tavuk Çorbası ve John Osborne’un Öfke Adlı Oyunlarında “Canlılık” Kavramı

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 2, 162 - 179, 26.09.2023

Sarah-jane Coyle

Öz

“Canlılık” kavramının tiyatro ve performans çalışmalarıyla uzun süredir devam eden bir ilişkisi bulunmaktadır. Bu ilişki öncelikle tiyatronun geçici doğasını neyin oluşturduğu ve giderek dijitalleşen bir çağda performansta neyin “canlılık” sayılacağı gibi ontolojiye dair sorularla sınırlı kalmıştır. Buna karşın bu makale, 1950’lerin Britanya'sının iki önemli oyununda, Arnold Wesker’ın Arpalı Tavuk Çorbası ve John Osborne’un Öfke adlı oyunlarında “canlılığı” bir doktrin ve yaygın bir ideoloji olarak ele alacaktır. Her iki oyun da duygu dramlarını temsil eder. Onlar, Britanya’nın köhneleşmiş sınıf sistemi ve savaş sonrası toplumuna dair hayal kırıklıklarını ifade etmek için oyun yazan bir grup işçi sınıfı tiyatro yazarını tanımlayan bir terim olan Öfkeli Genç Adamlar hareketinin üyeleri tarafından yazılmıştır. Bu makale, edebi ve tarihsel analizin yanı sıra yakın okumayı da kullanarak, Öfkeli Genç Adamlar’ın “öfkesinin” sadece hoşnutsuz liberaller için bir tanımlama olmadığını, bu oyunlarda gündelik kapitalist yaşamın standartlaştırılmış kültürüne direnmenin bir aracı olarak “canlılığı” ve canlılığı somutlaştırmanın önemini vurgulayan daha geniş bir hareketin parçası olduğunu tartışacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Canlılık, İşçi Sınıfı, Duygulanım, Sosyalizm, Kriz, Duygu

”If you don't care you’ll die” : The Concept of “Liveness” in Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup with Barley and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger

Öz

The phenomenological concept of “liveness” has a long-standing relationship with theatre and performance studies. This relationship has primarily been limited to questions of ontology; namely, what constitutes the ephemeral nature of theatre and what counts as “liveness” in performance in an increasingly digitised age. By contrast, this article will consider “liveness” as a doctrine and pervasive ideology in two landmark plays of 1950s Britain, Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup with Barley, and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. Both plays represent dramas of emotion and were written by members of the “angry young men” movement, a term denoting a group of working-class dramatists, who used their work to express frustration with Britain’s outdated class system and post-war society. By employing close reading alongside literary and historical analysis, this article will argue that the “anger” of the angry young men is not just a descriptor for disaffected liberals but is part of a wider movement in these plays emphasising the importance of embodying “liveness” and vitality as a means of resisting the standardised culture of everyday capitalist life.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Liveness, Affect, Working-class, Socialism, Crisis, Feeling

Kaynakça

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