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Dancing in chains: A. R. Gurney's 1980s plays and how they reflect contemporary American culture
Abstract
This dissertation is an examination of the seven plays written by A. R. Gurney during the 1980s. Gurney describes his own work as "dancing in chains," that is, working in a restricted form, yet striving for joyous creative expression. This "dancing in chains" metaphor may also be applied to the "WASP" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) culture in America, as this culture promotes freedom, yet has definite sets of rules and behavior which can be unnecessarily restrictive and oppressive. Gurney has been dubbed the WASPs' playwright and his plays are examined with this in mind. The decline of the WASPs' cultural influence is also analyzed, as it is represented through the plays. Gurney both praises and condemns the culture and this is examined both as a force for dramatic tension and as a cultural circumstance. Chapters are in order of the plays' copyright dates and are: (1) Ritual in The Dining Room; (2) What I Did Last Summer: Realizing One's Potential; (3) The Perfect Party: An Examination of the American Dream; (4) Another Antigone: The Clash Between Two Cultures; (5) Sweet Sue: Sketching Perspectives of Relationships; (6) The Cocktail Hour: Dramatizing Family Structures; (7) Love Letters: Two Views of Life. Each chapter includes a brief synopsis of the play, a summary of the reviews and other significant data such as pertinent production information, comparative analyses with other plays or works of literature, et cetera. The following questions are asked concerning each play: (1) What does this play challenge people to examine? (2) How does the play defend the WASP culture? (3) How does the play challenge the WASP culture? (4) What are the realistic aspects of the play? (5) What non-realistic devices does the playwright employ? (6) What comments are made on the structure of the play within the play itself? (7) How does the play present a larger picture of the culture it addresses and/or how does the play focus on a particular aspect of that culture in a significant way?
Subject Area
Theater|American literature|Biographies|Cultural anthropology
Recommended Citation
Miller, Laura Hendrix-Branch, "Dancing in chains: A. R. Gurney's 1980s plays and how they reflect contemporary American culture" (1993). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9406084.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9406084