Abstract
In our increasingly aged societies, old age continues to be equated with decline (Gullette 2004) and becomes the source of the most invisible yet persistent forms of discrimination, namely, ageism (Butler 1969). Even though theatre, like other artistic forms, has traditionally promoted a negative image of ageing (Mangan 2013), some contemporary plays have begun to favour more complex portrayals of old age. Nevertheless, when considered from a gender-based angle, these portrayals often acquire quite a problematic undertone: while roles for older female actors remain exceptional, many peripheral or, if centred, mainly problematic dramatizations of ageing femininity in the theatre arena fuel age prejudice against older women on and off stage. This article offers an age-focused analysis of two plays that counteract stereotypical images of female ageing through various dramaturgical strategies: Michel Tremblay’s Albertine in Five Times (1984) and Matt Hartley’s Here I Belong (2016). Through a comparative analysis of the Naturalistic and Non-Naturalistic devices employed in the two plays, and the examination of the meanings of age generated by the characterization of the two female protagonists, we hope to demonstrate that Tremblay’s and Hartley’s texts contribute to creating a truly anti-ageist theatre while at the same time enhancing the visibility of the older woman on the stage.
Highlights
Ageing Studies, Theatre and Contemporary DramaEver since classical authors like William Shakespeare or Calderón de la Barca established the trope of ‘the theatre of the world’ in the Renaissance, and seminal sociologists like Erving Goffman (1956) or philosophers like Judith Butler (1990, 1993) recognized the ‘performative elements’ that help explain aspects of our socially- and culturally-constructed identities, theatre has been regarded as an ideal domain through which human behaviour and society in general can be interpreted and understood
The representation of old age on the stage is highly conditioned by the socio-cultural background of the ageing figures, in which gender difference is paramount
While integrating a critical examination of old age into theatre criticism enriches the analysis of modern drama with a highly significant contemporary perspective, providing more visibility to alternative portrayals of female old age on the stage contributes to dismantling reductive perceptions of later life and femininity
Summary
Ever since classical authors like William Shakespeare or Calderón de la Barca established the trope of ‘the theatre of the world’ in the Renaissance, and seminal sociologists like Erving Goffman (1956) or philosophers like Judith Butler (1990, 1993) recognized the ‘performative elements’ that help explain aspects of our socially- and culturally-constructed identities, theatre has been regarded as an ideal domain through which human behaviour and society in general can be interpreted and understood. Other age-focused approaches to theatre and performance that started the field (Basting 1998; Lipscomb and Marshall 2010; Fuchs 2014) have developed more recently into monographic analyses, with relevant contributions to dramaturgical analysis (Goldman and Switzky 2016; Lipscomb 2016b; Bronk 2017; Henderson 2016), senior performance and/ or applied theatre (Basting 1998; Bernard and Munro 2015; McCormick 2017; Gillespie and Rowen 2020), or specific analyses of productions (Mangan 2013; Moore 2014), to name a few Much of this scholarship stimulates a shift from ageist and stereotypical images of old age, as have been traditionally promoted on stage (Mangan 2013, 23), towards some alternatives to the “authoritative narrative[s]” of decline (Gullette 2004, 13) that dominate contemporary ideologies on ageing. The study considers how, through the combination of Aristotelian and Non-Aristotelian structures, and Naturalistic and Non-Naturalistic resources in the two plays, as well as their respective and complementary ‘age effects,’ Tremblay’s and Hartley’s plays contribute to paving the way for a truly anti-ageist theatre in which older women are endowed with rich characterizations in lead roles
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