JOE ORTON’UN DEMOKRATİK DELİLİĞİ: POLİTİK BİR KOMEDİ OLARAK UŞAK NE GÖRDÜ

Bu çalışmanın amacı Joe Orton’un Uşak Ne Gördü adlı oyununu İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası İngiliz tiyatrosunda politik komediyi temsil etmesi açısından incelemektir. Oyun politik tavrını, töre komedisi ve fars türlerini birleştirerek kazanmaktadır. Orton, bu oyunda, sistemi iki şekilde sorgular. İlkinde ruh sağlığı ve delilik arasındaki sınırı kaldırır; böylece psikiyatristlerin ve onların yöntemlerinin otoritesini sarsar. Bu şekilde, akıl hastanelerinin İngiliz toplumunun, dolayısıyla kurumları işlevsiz hale gelen modern dünyanın mikrokozmosu olduğunu öne sürer. İkinci olarak ise, cinselliği ve cinsel kimlikler arasındaki çizginin belirsizliğini vurgular. Buna ek olarak izleyicisine geleneksel ev ve aile kavramlarının bilinen tanımlarının doğruluğunu sorgulatır. Orton, iki komedi türüne de müdahale ederek, cinsel eğilimler, zina ve ensest gibi tartışmalı kavramlarla kendi politik bakış açısını açıkça ortaya koyar. Böylelikle, genel görüşü değiştirmeyi, yeni algı biçimleri önermeyi, toplumsal ve politik sorunlar için duyarlılık ve farkındalık sağlamayı amaçlar. Bu çalışma, oyunu eleştirel bir açıdan analiz ederek bahsi geçen politik özellikleri göz önüne sermeyi hedeflemektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Töre komedisi, fars, politik komedi, cinsellik, delilik

JOE ORTON’S DEMOCRATIC LUNACY: WHAT THE BUTLER SAW AS A POLITICAL

The purpose of this work is to analyse Joe Orton’s play What the Butler Saw as a representation of political comedy in the post-war British theatre. The play gains its political attitude by blending the qualities of comedy of manners and farce. In the play, Orton questions the system in two ways. First he removes the line between sanity and madness; thus subverts the authority of the psychiatrists and their methods. He also implies that the mental hospital is a microcosm of the British society, or by extension, the modern world in which all the institutions are inoperative. Secondly, he foregrounds sexuality and the blurring line between the sexes and sexual identities. Furthermore, he calls the essential definitions of the traditional concepts of family and home into question. By subverting both genres, he presents his political standpoint with controversial subject matters like sexual orientation, adultery, and incest. Therefore he aims to alter the public opinion, to offer new ways of perception as well as to create awareness and sensibility for social and political problems. This article intends to delineate the mentioned political qualities by analysing the play from a critical perspective.

Keywords:

Comedy of manners, Farce, Political comedy, Sexuality, madness,

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