Elizabeth Kuti’s Treehouses: Toward a New Definition of Irish Theatre
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https://doi.org/10.37389/abei.v11i0.3646关键词:
Irish playwrights, Elizabeth Kuti, Treehouses.摘要
Does a dramatist have to be born in Ireland to be an “Irish” playwright? This article explores the idea that a dramatist can be “of Ireland” and write a distinctly “Irish” play without being born in Ireland. In our global
world, the idea of nationality is increasingly fluid. The work of dramatist
Elizabeth Kuti exhibits the hybridity of some contemporary Irish plays. Kuti has a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin; she was married in Dublin, and one of her sons was born there. She has worked with several Irish theatre companies including the Abbey Theatre and Rough Magic Theatre Company, two of Dublin’s and Ireland’s most prestigious theatre companies. This article examines Kuti as an Irish dramastist , concentrating on her two plays with Irish locations. Treehouses is set in a Dublin nursing home. As a memory play, time and place shift from the Hungary of World War II, to the Dublin nursing home, to some place in England. The Sugar Wife, set in Dublin during the American Civil War, explores the lives of Quaker abolitionists. The play discusses the ethics of how money is made and used. Having lived in Ireland for eleven years, from 1993 to 2004, Kuti can certainly claim”insider” knowledge. Tellingly, she describes her situation: “I’m not Irish but I feel a part of Irish theatre.”