Applying Rasa Theory in David Williamson's The Removalists

Abstract

Applying Rasa Theory in David Williamson's The Removalists Arnab Chatterjee (bio) Australian theater has indeed come of age since Ray Lawler's The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was performed in Melbourne in 1955, which corresponds to John Osborne's performance of Look Back in Anger, also performed in 1955. This has led many critics of Australian theater to divide its history into two neat parts: pre-Lawler and post-Lawler drama. Early dramatists were busy imitating the European models, and the frequent staging of sentimental plays and vaudeville cannot be ignored. Early drama since 1833 was mostly concerned with the life of the bush rangers, which is roughly equivalent to the US Wild West. The Aboriginal cause has also been a topic in the hands of David Burn, whose Bush Rangers was performed in 1829, after he wrote a considerable portion of the same in Tasmania. Though David Williamson (1942–) belongs to the "First Wave" of such dramatists, he was active in the 1990s as well and is associated with a literary phenomenon called the "New Theater" in Australian drama. Williamson's themes bring him much in the forefront of dramatists whom we call "realist"—indeed, his plays are urban "comedies of manners" performed in the Australian setting. Williamson is concerned with the inner lives of characters and the power games they indulge in. He is bent on showing the lives of urban, middle-class Australians, and his territory is human psychology. This is not surprising, as "he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Monash University and lectured at the Swinburne College of Technology, Melbourne on Thermodynamics and Social Psychology" (Prasad 19). Williamson, speaking about his own plays, points out, "More seriously, I am concerned with a study of plays that contribute in one way or another to the emergence of an Australian Idea, a conception of Australian race-identity: plays that reflect, criticize, lampoon, appreciate, or otherwise assess the values of Australian people living their problems and their character" (Rees vi). Thus, a searching analysis into the psycho-social "thermodynamics" of his characters seems to be an abiding concern with Williamson. In this connection, the comments of Philip Parsons in his essay "This World and the Next" seem pertinent: This emphasis on structuring experience is fundamental to David Williamson's idea of the theatre. We are reminded that he came to play writing as a graduate in mechanical engineering who has extended his [End Page 41] interests to psychology. The elements of experience are to be brought together, juxtaposed to suggest pattern, relationship, meaning; while the audience, he hopes, will compare and test their own reaction to situations against those of the stage characters. (vii) When Williamson was active as a dramatist during this period of time, Australia was on the verge of witnessing major socioeconomic changes. There was a widespread protest to the Vietnam War in 1962, the Beatles toured Australia in 1968–69, Aboriginal voting rights were granted in 1962, and Melbourne hosted the Olympic Games in 1956, to mention a few. There was a general atmosphere of exuberance as a result of the consumer culture, women's rights (which find ample expression in drama), and so on. Even the turmoil in Australian politics around this time is noteworthy: The starting point of 1975 reflects the importance of that year in Australian politics. On 11 November 1975, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the incumbent prime minister, Gough Whitlam, and his government. To accomplish this act, he invoked a constitutional right that had not been exercised before (and has not been exercised since) by the vice-regal representative. This event was culturally traumatic and brought into focus the questioning of Australia's ties to the United Kingdom. . . . During this time, in all facets of the arts and throughout culture, a conscious reaction occurred against the representation of Australians as colonials with English accents and English attitudes. The investigation of Australian identity in the literature broadened to include complex and often hybrid representations, while a strong vein of irony also developed. Samuels xvii; (emphasis added) Violence seems to be an integral part of urban, middle-class life, and Williamson depicts that violence in the fight between...