RE-IGNITING THE GOTHIC - QUT

[Pages:142]RE-IGNITING THE GOTHIC:

Contemporary Drama in the Classic Mode

by Ian Kennedy Williams

Submitted to the Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology

Presented for the Master of Arts Degree (by Research) 2005

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Keywords: Contemporary theatre, drama, gothic, gothic convention, gothic mode, literature, performance, playwriting, Steven Berkoff, Tony Kushner, Errol O'Neill, Sam Shepard, Clive Bloom, F. Botting, Mark Edmundson, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Edgar Allen Poe, Ann Radcliffe, Rosamond Seimon.

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Abstract:

While the gothic in its various interpretations is well established in contemporary culture, the traditional form, rooted in its late eighteenth century literary conventions, would seem to have little relevance for theatre audiences today. A reappraisal of the convention's foundations, however, offers the playwright opportunities to explore new narratives in which the tradition can be re-inflected in the present. An analysis of the writing of my play Burn, which presents as a contemporary family drama, will demonstrate how the narrative can be structured with deliberate reference to the established tropes of the classic gothic mode. It will be shown that a reengagement with the tradition in concert with new interpretations of the gothic can reinvigorate the form as a mode of playwriting practice.

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