Histeri, Delilik ve Disiplin Edici Güç: The Next Room ve Mrs. Packard

Emily Mann’ın Mrs. Packard (2008) ve Sarah Ruhl’un The Next Room veya The Vibrator Play (2009) adlı oyunları, kadınların tıbbi gelişmeler dolayısıyla yaşadıkları sıkıntıları sergilerken, on dokuzuncu yüzyıl yaşam tarzının geleneklerini irdeleyip zorlukları sahneye aktarmaktadır. Farklı tonlarda, tarzlarda ve farklı amaçlarla yazılmış olmasına rağmen, her iki oyun da kadın bedenini ve zihnini baskı altında tutmak için bilimsel yöntemlerin kullanılmasını eleştirip, mevcut baskıya direnmek için alternatif yöntem örnekleri sergilemektedir. Her iki oyunda da protesto temasının izini sürmek için Foucault’un iktidar oluşumunu ve direniş teorisini kullanan bu makale, bu oyunlardaki Aydınlanma çağı değerlerinden ve modern kurumlardan kopuşlarını vurgulayarak çağdaş izleyicilerle kurulabilecek ilgi ve ilişkilerini analiz etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Histeri, Delilik, feminist tarihsel oyunlar, Mrs. Packard

Hysteria, Madness and Disciplinary Power: The Next Room and Mrs. Packard

Mrs. Packard (2008) by Emily Mann and The Next Room or The Vibrator Play (2009) by Sarah Ruhl explore and deplore the conventions of the 19th century life-style while revealing the difficulties women experienced through the means of medical advances. Protesting the appropriation of scientific methods to oppress women’s body and mind, both plays display examples of alternative methods to resist oppression despite being written in different tones, styles, and for different purposes. Using Foucault’s formation of power and resistance theory to trace the theme of protest in both plays, this paper analyzes their relevance to contemporary audiences by emphasizing their break from the Enlightenment values and modern institutions.

Keywords:

Hysteria, madness, feminist history plays, Mrs. packard,

PDF

___

Cooper, D. (1994). Productive, relational and everywhere? Conceptualizing power and resistance within Foucauldian feminism. Sociology, 28(2), 435-454.
Farmer, M. (2015). I mourn the body electric: Science, technology, nature, and art in Sarah Ruhl’s in the next room. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 7(3), 352-370.
Foucault, M. (1982). The subject of power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777–795.
Foucault, M. (1990). Madness and civilization. (R. Howard, Trans.) New York: Vintage. (Original work published in 1961).
Foucault, M. (1991). The history of sexuality. Volume 1, An introduction. (R. Hurley, Trans.) New York: Vintage. (Original work published in 1976).
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punishment. (A. Sheridan, Trans.) New York: Second Vintage. (Original work published in 1975).
Gilman, C. P. (1980). The Charlotte Perkins Gilman reader: The yellow wallpaper, and other fiction. New York: Pantheon Books.
Gilman, S. L. & Showalter E., (Eds.) (1993). Hysteria beyond Freud – UC Press E-Books Collection, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Godbeer, R. (2002). Sexual revolution in early America. Baltimore MD: The Johns Hopkins Press.
Gordon, C. (2013). History of madness. In C. Falzon, O’Leary, T. & Sawicki, J. (Eds.), A companion to Foucault: Blackwell companions to philosophy (pp. 84-104). Maiden: Blackwell Publishing.
Gutting, G. (2005). Foucault: A very short introduction. Oxford: OUP.
Kelly, K. E. (2010). Making the bones sing: The feminist history play, 1976-2010. Theatre Journal, 62(4), 645-660.
Lahr, J. (November 30, 2009) Good vibrations: Sarah Ruhl and ‘Finian’s rainbow’ score. The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/11/30/good-vibrations-2.
Langworthy, D. (2014). A talk with the playwright. https://finearts.illinoisstate.edu/theatre-connections/archive/packard/#tabs-accord-horz2.
Maines, R. P. (1999). The technology of orgasm: “Hysteria,” the vibrator, and women’s sexual satisfaction. Baltimore: The John Hopkins UP.
Mann, E. (2013). Mrs. Packard. New York: Broadway Play Publishing.
Marks, P. (June 21, 2007). Injustice gone insane. Washington Post. http:://www. washingtonpost.com.
McLaren, M. A. (2002). Feminism, Foucault, and embodied subjectivity. New York: State University of New York Press.
Pickett, B. L. (2009). Historical dictionary of homosexuality. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press.
Rendell, B. (August 5, 2007). The beatification of Mrs. Packard: Emily Mann pens a stirring old fashioned social melodrama. http://talkingbroadway.com https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/nj/nj227.html.
Ruhl, S. (2010). The next room or the vibrator play. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Schutzman, M. (1999). The real thing: Performance, hysteria, and advertising. London: UP of New England.
Thornton, E. M. (1976). Hypnotism, hysteria and epilepsy: An historical synthesis. London: William Heinemann Medical Books Limited.
VanBurkleo, S. F. (2011). Review: A world of trouble. The women’s review of books, 8(6), 18-19. Worboys, M. (2011). Practice and the science of medicine in the nineteenth century. Isis, 2(1), 109-115.