Beta
159764

Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

The primary concern of this paper is to focus on the use of metatheatre in 9 Parts of Desire (2006), a play written by the American Iraqi dramatist, Heather Raffo. The word “metatheatre" or “metadrama" was first coined in 1963 by Lionel Abel, who introduced a new form of drama that breaks with the modernist conventions and techniques. A discussion of the metatheatrical elements in 9 Parts of Desire enlightens interpretive potentials beyond the realm of its often-discussed traumatic nature. 9 Parts of Desire is a play that dramatizes the stories of nine Iraqi women. The narratives of these women are taken into limelight on Raffo's versatile theatre, as the structure of her play breaks with the norms of traditional theatre. According to Lionel Abel, the word “metatheatre" is used to describe self- conscious theatre, one that demonstrates its own theatricality. Raffo's artful self-reflexive and self-conscious devices helped portray a lively vision of both Iraqi women's solid deep bonds to Iraq, and the US invasion's impact on their lives. Meanwhile, Raffo managed to stimulate her audience/reader to think not only of the embedded meaning of the play's perspectives but also of its crafty dramaturgy. Therefore, this paper explores how the employment of specific metatheatrical techniques in 9 Parts of Desire has helped enlighten the playwright's unique vision of the emotional, cultural, and historical dimensions of her characters and their theatrical awareness, as well.

DOI

10.21608/opde.2020.159764

Keywords

9 Parts of Desire, Heather Raffo, metatheatre, Self- conscious Theatre

Authors

First Name

Sahar Abdel Khaleq Abbass

Last Name

Abbass

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

-

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

71

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

23439

Issue Date

2020-07-01

Receive Date

2021-03-29

Publish Date

2020-07-01

Page Start

95

Page End

114

Print ISSN

1110-2721

Online ISSN

2735-3591

Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/article_159764.html

Detail API

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=159764

Order

4

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,140

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education

Publication Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023