‘Provincializing’ Post-Wall Europe: Transcultural Critique of Eurocentric Historicism in Pentecost, Europe and The Break of Day

Abstract

In British post-wall plays of the 1990s, the turn to Eastern Europe’s most recent history not only stimulates reflection on British national identity but also points to a cultural shift in the transition from ‘old’ to ‘new’ Europe. Scrutinizing this shift, the article presents a comparative case study of David Edgar’s Pentecost (1994), David Greig’s Europe (1994) and Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Break of Day (1995). It concentrates on three aspects: (1) The plays’ representation of space reveals a crisis of nationalist imagination to which Europe provides a transcultural alternative. (2) Their critique of Eurocentric historicism – aptly expressed in Dipesh Chakrabarty’s project of ‘provincializing Europe’ – erodes the idea of Europe as a stable cultural space. In each play, this critique is formulated with the help of different strategies, i.e. by contesting historicism’s narrative of modernity (Pentecost), by negotiating conflicting European identities (Europe) and by delineating transnational identities (The Break of Day). (3) The use of multilingualism and epic elements points to an aesthetic that continues the critique of Eurocentrism in performance by extending the experience of transcultural complexity to performers and audiences alike.