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Rewriting Shakespeare’s King Lear through Theatrical Performativity in Lear’s Daughters

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2010, 23(1), pp.29-57
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

김나영 1

1이화여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper studies an effective strategy of theatrical performativity in rewriting Shakespeare from the contemporary context. Rewriting the classics, including Shakespeare, is considered as an attempt to establish the interactional or dialogical relationship between the past and the present with a variety of thematic intentions. Lear’s Daughters, which was written by Elaine Feinstein in collaboration with the WTG (Women’s Theatrical Group), tries to reinterpret Shakespeare’s King Lear from a feminist perspective. It shows the hidden herstory of female characters as a sequel to King Lear. The WTG and Feinstein tried to reconstruct Shakespeare’s text with the help of theatricality, that is, the performing principles using various dramatic elements based on theatrical imagination. Most of all, this play gives the audience an opportunity to watch the process of constructing ideological values through theatrical performativity. It presents the performing subjects before the audience to signify the ironic presence through absence, and vice versa. The contrast between the powerful presence of absent Lear and the powerless absence of present female characters produces the dramatic tension in this play. In addition, the division of space into upstairs (the main stage) and downstairs (the hidden stage) also makes invisible Lear visible on stage through theatrical gestures of those who are on the stage. This direction may also imply the relationship with the original play in that it does exist, invisibly but clearly, in this play. Therefore, this study shows how the theatrical languages and their performance are effective in reconstructing the original works in another context and how Shakespeare can survive through rewriting despite the different ways of signification.

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