Science fiction is rarely considered as a genre suitable for theatre: new worlds and spectacular scenarios seem oversized for the constraints of the performing space, which is often materially limited by matters of budget and casting. However, a significant tradition in contemporary theatre explores the relational and intimate elements of sci-fi tropes, where gendered identities are a central issue. Without the imaginative freedom granted by the written word and the technological possibilities of visual/digital representations, live performance tests the potentialities and limits of the material body a signifying practice of gendered identities. Hence theatre may prove an interesting ground to test science-fiction’s radical potential of dismantling and reconfiguring femininity and masculinity as inscribed on and by bodies who cannot so easily get rid of received notions of gender as a normative, binary structure of meaning. The case study chosen to explore this research question is Caryl Churchill’s sci-fi work A Number (2002), which focuses on a traditional sci-fi topos, human cloning and its consequences. Churchill’s approach works rather counterintuitively by removing the female body (the central concern of much sci-fi on the topic) to ruthless question the power fantasy symbolized by the autonomous reproduction of a male body. The normative construction of masculinity through fatherhood explodes in this short family drama, where the father Salter first confronts his son’s first clone (B2), then the “original” Bernard and finally another of his many clones – all three played by the same actor. Churchill’s typically sparse writing, with tight dialogues and a distinctive use of punctuation, outlines the dystopia of a near future in which patriarchy is defeated by its own inability to exert total control over its offspring. Michael Black, the “other” clone, embodies a queer masculinity, which contaminates normative elements (such as biological fatherhood and his role as breadwinner) with a deep connection with non-human life forms which point to Churchill’s investment in ecocritical issues as part and parcel of her reconfiguration of gender identities.
The Queer Future of Masculinity: Fathers and Sons in Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and A Number by Caryl Churchill
Guarracino S
2020-01-01
Abstract
Science fiction is rarely considered as a genre suitable for theatre: new worlds and spectacular scenarios seem oversized for the constraints of the performing space, which is often materially limited by matters of budget and casting. However, a significant tradition in contemporary theatre explores the relational and intimate elements of sci-fi tropes, where gendered identities are a central issue. Without the imaginative freedom granted by the written word and the technological possibilities of visual/digital representations, live performance tests the potentialities and limits of the material body a signifying practice of gendered identities. Hence theatre may prove an interesting ground to test science-fiction’s radical potential of dismantling and reconfiguring femininity and masculinity as inscribed on and by bodies who cannot so easily get rid of received notions of gender as a normative, binary structure of meaning. The case study chosen to explore this research question is Caryl Churchill’s sci-fi work A Number (2002), which focuses on a traditional sci-fi topos, human cloning and its consequences. Churchill’s approach works rather counterintuitively by removing the female body (the central concern of much sci-fi on the topic) to ruthless question the power fantasy symbolized by the autonomous reproduction of a male body. The normative construction of masculinity through fatherhood explodes in this short family drama, where the father Salter first confronts his son’s first clone (B2), then the “original” Bernard and finally another of his many clones – all three played by the same actor. Churchill’s typically sparse writing, with tight dialogues and a distinctive use of punctuation, outlines the dystopia of a near future in which patriarchy is defeated by its own inability to exert total control over its offspring. Michael Black, the “other” clone, embodies a queer masculinity, which contaminates normative elements (such as biological fatherhood and his role as breadwinner) with a deep connection with non-human life forms which point to Churchill’s investment in ecocritical issues as part and parcel of her reconfiguration of gender identities.Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
