Tom Stoppard’ın Gerçek Müfettiş Hound (The Real Inspector Hound) ve Akrobatlar (Jumpers) Oyunlarında Parodi ve Gizem

Tom Stoppard, Çekoslavakya doğumlu ve İngilizce’yi sonradan öğrenmiş olması sebebiyle, anadili İngilizce olan yazarlara nazaran dile daha hâkim ve dilin imkanlarını daha iyi kullanabilen, kelimelerle oynamada mahir; komik diyaloglar, yanlış anlaşılmaya mahal vermeler ve beklenmedik cevaplar yaratabilen usta bir oyun yazarıdır. Kendinin belirli kalıplara indirgenip isimlendirilmesini reddetse de oyunlarında kimliğin ve hafızanın önemi, gerçek ve görünen arasındaki ilişki, hayatın sıkıntıları, kendinden ve kendinden önceki yazarlardan esinlenme ve ödünç alma gibi postmodern ve absürd tiyatronun tipik özelliklerini görmek mümkündür. İlk defa 1968 yılında sergilenen Gerçek Müfettiş Hound (The Real Inspector Hound) oyunu Agatha Christie’nin 1952 yapımı Fare Kapanı (The Mousetrap) oyununun bir parodisiyken Akrobatlar (Jumpers) akademik felsefenin satiriktik bir eleştirisidir. Stoppard, bu makalede incelenen Gerçek Müfettiş Hound ve Akrobatlar adlı oyunlarında kurgusunu oyunlarının başında yarattığı bir gizem üzerine inşa eder. Bu gizem Gerçek Müfettiş Hound’da sahneye diğer aktörlerce fark edilmeyen bir ceset koyarak gerçekleştirilirken Akrobatlar’ın en başında akrobatlardan birinin öldürülmesi ve kimin öldürdüğünün de oyun boyunca söylenmemesiyle sağlanır. Stoppard, Gerçek Müfettiş Hound’da yarattığı gizemi oyun boyunca korumak için radyodan geçilen firar etmiş bir akıl hastasıyla ilgili polis duyurusunu ve sahnede çalan telefonu kullanırken Akrobatlar’da sahnede yer alan telefon dışarıya telefon açılması için kullanılır. Yine Stoppard izleyicilerini daha derin muammalara sokmak için açılış sahnelerinde Gerçek Müfettiş Hound’da büyük bir ayna, Akrobatlar’da ise televizyon ekranı kullanır. Her iki oyunun diyaloglarında da şüphe, şiddet, yanlış anlaşılma, iletişimsizlik oldukça yer tutar. Stoppard Gerçek Müfettiş Hound’da tiyatro eleştirmenlerini oyuna dahil ederek ve cinayet işlettirerek eleştirirken Akrobatlar’da akademik felsefecileri, cinayeti kimin işlediği sorusuna cevap aramak yerine, en büyük muamma olan ‘neden yaratıldık?’ sorusuna cevap vermeleri gerektiğini söyler.

Parody and Mystery in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound and Jumpers

Tom Stoppard, who was born in Czechoslovakia and learned English later, is a playwright who is more capable in English language and more able to use the possibilities of the language than most of native English writers. He is capable of playing with words, creating funny dialogues, misunderstandings and unexpected answers. In his plays, though he refuses to name himself as such, it is possible to see some typical features of postmodern and absurd theatre, such as the importance of identity and memory, the relationship between the real and the visible, the troubles of life, and inspiration and borrowing from even himself and other writers. The Real Inspector Hound, first exhibited in 1968, is a parody of Agatha Christie's 1952 play The Mousetrap, while Jumpers is a satirical critique of academic philosophy. Stoppard builds his fiction in both The Real Inspector Hound and Jumpers on a mystery he creates at the beginning of his plays. This mystery is created in The Real Inspector Hound by putting a corpse on the stage unnoticed by the other actors while one of the acrobats is killed at the beginning of the Jumpers and who the killer is is not told throughout the play. Stoppard uses the police message on radio about an escaped madman to preserve the mystery he creates, and a ringing telephone on the stage in The Real Inspector Hound while the telephone in Jumpers is only used to telephone. Again, Stoppard uses a large mirror in The Real Inspector Hound and a television screen in Jumpers in the opening scenes to immerse his audience in deeper enigmas. Doubt, violence, misunderstanding and miscommunication are often seen in the dialogues of both plays. In The Real Inspector Hound, Stoppard criticises theatre critics by adding them in the play and having them commit a murder, while in Jumpers, he criticises academic philosophers for trying to answer the question of who committed the murder, rather than the biggest conundrum: ‘Why Were we created?'.

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