b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Zoe Manin linking its plot to the political context of 2007 andEat Chaos, Tom Tom Mag [Online] https://tomtommag.com/2017/04/kate-tempest-cultural-appropriation-humanity-let-eat-chaos/ [9Applying feminist and post-colonial analysis providing space for the black community to grieve and express their vulnerability. December 2020]. to the 2014 Old Vic Production of The Crucible, Reid, T. (2018) Killing Joy as a World Making Project: Anger in the Workfocusing on the characters of Abigail and Tituba.I for one, as a white woman, found it difficult to write inof debbie tucker green, Contemporary Theatre Review, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 390-400. [Online] https://doi.org/10.1080/10486801.2018.1475356 [30 the spoken word form. I felt as though I was appropriatingOctober 2020].black culture, resulting in me reverting to a more classicalEssaytucker green, d. (2012 [2008]) random, Nick Hern Books. [Online] poetic form that had a structured rhyming scheme. Kaehttps://r1.vlereader.com/Reader?ean=9781780010960 [30 October 2020]. Zoe ManTempest, a white artist, has been criticised for their use of poetry inspired from rap and hip hop, styles originating in black culture. When questioned, Tempest explains they felt a part of the culture. It wasnt like [they were]Arthur Millers The Crucible is a play that dramatizes thecharacters. Schiller then lets go of Colleys neck when trying to adopt or appropriate something (TempestSalem Witch Trials of thelate 1600s. It explores the powerAbigail scapegoats Tituba and brings another woman interviewed in Machlus 2017: np); unlike myself, feelingstruggles within the black-and-white andinstitutionalizedinto question. Hale requests to speak with Tituba, and as though I was imitating a voice that was not mine.nature of Puritan New England in the late 1600s as Abigailwhen she enters, Schiller physically throws Colley out of Tempests work dismantles the imperial hegemonyWilliams,an orphaned teenage girl, cries witchcraft onthe way to approach and interrogate Tituba. A feminist Godiwala (2006) wants to displace from the English stage,women of Salem in a desperateattempt to seduce Johnreading would suggest Hale is exerting his power over however their work gives rise to questions of ownershipProctor, a married man who she once had an affair with.all women in question and subjecting each of them to over style. Personally, I find myself at a juncture where IIwill be analyzing the 2014 production of The Crucible,his interrogation to assert dominance. According to a do not want to appropriate black cultures form or writeperformed at The Old Vic inLondon and directed by Yalcommentary of the play by Susan C.W. Abbotson, young, from a perspective that I have never experienced, yet IFarbler, through feminist and post-colonial standpoints.unmarried, servant girls are considered chattels rather simultaneously want to disrupt the imperial hegemony thatSpecifically, I will be focusing on the first act of the playthan viable members of the community (Abbotson prevents the experiences of minorities being representedand paying special attentionto the characters of Abigail2010:xxxviii). Therefore, Puritan societys consideration of on stage to begin with.Williams and Tituba, and how they contribute to a Abigail as property due to her gender would enable Hale feminist and post-colonial analysis of this production. to manhandle her. Additionally, Farbler explains in her Thus, in my opinion, the most effective way forinterview about directing the production, OnDirecting: marginalised groups to be represented on stage is toAccording to Mark Fortier, feminist theory is directly andYal Farbler, that a touch has an enormous charge, and provide black British playwrights with an equal platformpredominantly political. Itspurpose is to struggle againstcontinues to explain that touch is a way to convey the in English theatre. White playwrights writing on thethe oppression of women as women (Fortier 2016:85). codes of Puritanical society. Hale physically manhandles behalf of people of colour, as much as they endeavour,Although there is no denying that The Crucible is a politicalAbigail in this particular way at this moment because he will never be able to articulate a truthful account of aallegory of the era ofMcCarthyism that Miller hadfeels entitled to in that moment, further emphasizing the marginalised experience. For this reason, actively seekingendured, the play itself carries highly misogynistictones.power disparity due to gender.out black playwrights and curating their work is one of theHowever, I would argue that Farblers production brings best approaches to disrupting the imperial hegemony ofattention to andchallenges the female oppression of theHowever, Fortier suggests it is important to note that Western theatre, resulting in an appreciation of the diverseplay and its historical era by emphasizing it.In his bookwomen do not constitute one homogenous group but are forms of writing and experiences in Britain. Theory/Theatre, Fortier suggests that the body is one siteoften at odds with each other (Fortier 2016:90). Although of oppressionfor women (Fortier 2016:88), and there isAbigail and Tituba are both women, Abigail is the niece a lot of manhandling of the femalecharacters throughoutof a reverend, and Tituba is a black slave from Barbados. the production, emphasizing female oppression. AsThey are of different social classes. Therefore, it is Barling, K. (2007) Teen Deaths on Londons Streets, BBC [Online] http:// ReverendHale (Adrian Schiller), is interrogating Abigailimportant to analyse at the same scene with a postcolonial www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/12/11/kurt_teen_ (Samantha Colley), he grabs her by theupper arm andstandpoint in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the murders_feature.shtml [7 December 2020].neck and drags her to Bettys bedside, forcing her on herproduction. Post-colonialism, according to Fragkou, M. (2012) Precarious subjects: ethics of witnessing and responsibilityknees. Hethen spins her around for him to face her, in the Plays of debbie tucker green, Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre and Performance, vol. 3, no. 1, pp 23-39. [Online] maintaining a firm grip on her neck. Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins in Introduction: https://doi.org/10.1386/peet.3.1.23_1 [30 October 2020]. Schillers grasp on Colleys neck signifies a threateningRe-acting (to) Empire, is an engagement with and Godiwala, D. (2006) Genealogies, archaeologies, histories: the revolutionaryform of control as the neck isa vulnerable part of thecontestation of colonialisms discourses, power structures, interculturalism of Asian theatre in Britain, Studies in Theatre andbody that can end life, as demonstrated when Johnand social hierarchies (Gilbert and Tompkins 1996:2). Performance, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 33-47. [Online] https://doi.org/10.1386/ Proctor,the main character, is hanged at the end ofThrough a postcolonial standpoint, we can explore the stap.26.1.33/1 [30 October 2020]. the play. Furthermore, Schillersphysical towering overrelationship between the power different characters hold Machlus, S. Kate Tempest on Cultural Appropriation, Humanity, and Let ThemColley highlights a power disparity between the twodue to their social statuses. When Abigail mentions Tituba, 22 23'