WAITING FOR LEFTY: A SPEARHEADING PLAY OF AGITPROP

Waiting for Lefty, which was written by Clifford Odets during the Great Depression of the thirties, has become not only an emblematic play of Agitprop Theatre but also it proves to be an emotional and political catharsis on the part of the audience. Clifford Odets’ one-act play narrates the story of cabdrivers’ heart-rending economic situation and the series of actions, some of which are narrated in the form of flashbacks, which lead them to go on strike. Rejecting the conception, application and aesthetics of bourgeois theatre and backing its arguments for the instigation of primarily economic and social change by the aid of Agitprop features, Waiting for Lefty calls for mobilizing people by collective endeavor through the depiction of the dismal life conditions of the down-trodden people and corrupt union affairs. By presenting historical and cultural circumstances and perspective of weltanschauung which shape the play and drawing a theoretical synopsis for Waiting for Lefty, the study aims to display the agitprop features in one of the landmark play of American theatre.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty, Aesthetics of Bourgeois Theatre, Emotional and Political Catharsis

LEFTY’İ BEKLERKEN: AGİTPROP’UN ÖNCÜ BİR OYUNU

Clifford Odets tarafından 1930’lu yılların Büyük Buhran döneminde yazılan Lefty’i Beklerken yalnızca Agitprop Tiyatrosu’nun sembol oyunlarından biri olmakla kalmaz ayrıca seyirci açısından duygusal ve politik katarsis etki sağlamayı da başarır. Clifford Odets’in tek perdelik oyunu, eserdeki taksi şoförlerinin ekonomik yönden içler acısı durumunu ve bazıları geriyedönüşlerle anlatılan ve onları greve gitmeye götüren bir dizi olayı anlatır. Burjuva tiyatrosu fikrini, uygulamasını ve estetiğini yadsıyan ve Agitprop özellikleriyle argümanlarını öncelikle ekonomik ve sosyal değişimi başlatmak için destekleyen Lefty’i Beklerken, ezilen insanların kötü yaşam koşullarını tasvir ederek ve yozlaşmış sendika ilişkilerini açığa vurarak insanları harekete geçirmek için çağrıda bulunur. Çalışma, tarihsel ve kültürel koşulları ve eseri oluşturan dünya görüşünü serimleyip Lefty’i Beklerken oyunu için teorik bir özet oluşturarak Amerikan Tiyatrosu’nun önemli eserlerinden birinde Agitprop özelliklerini göstermeyi amaçlar.

Keywords:

Clifford Odets, Lefty’i Beklerken, Burjuva Tiyatrosu Estetiği, Duygusal ve Politik Katarsis,

PDF

___

Brown, K. (2013). Agitprop in Soviet Russia, Constructing the Past, Vol. 14, No.1, Illinois Wesleyan University Press.
Cashman, S. D. (1998). America Ascendant: From Theodore Roosevelt to FDR in the Century of America, New York University Press.
Habib, A. R. (2005). Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History of Literary Criticism from Plato to Present, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
Hanes, S. M., Hanes, R. C., (2002). Great Depression and New Deal: Almanac, Thomson/Gale, Michigan.
Herr, J. C. (2003): Clifford Odets and American Political Theatre, Greenwood Publishing Incorporated, Westport/Connecticut.
http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/agitprop/4041, accessed date: 21.05.2017.
Lawson, J. (1935). In American Writers’ Congress ed. Henry Hart, Martin Lawrence.
Levine, L. W. (1985). American Culture and Great Depression, The Yale Review, Vol.74, No.2, Yale University Press, New Haven/Connecticut.
Marx, K., Engels, F. (1952). Manifesto of the Communist Party, Progress Publishers, Moscow.
McElvaine, R. S. (2003). Stock Market Crash: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression II, Macmillan Reference USA, New York. Oaks, H., E. (2004). American Writers, Facts on File, New York.
Odets, C. (1939). Waiting for Lefty in Five Contemporary American Plays, edit. William Henry H., Wilson Randle Dumble, Harper & Brothers, New York.
Pal, S. (2010). Theatre and Activism: The Agit Prop Theatre Way, Music and Arts in Action, Vol.3, No. 1, Delhi University.
Saal, I. (2002). Epic Pleasures: Political Theater Reconsidered, PhD Dissertation, Duke University.
Warren, B. (2002). Creating a Theatre and Community in Your Classroom, Captus Press, North York/Ontario.
Watts, R. (1935). Sights and Sounds, N Y Herald Tribune, 31 March 1935
Young H., W., Young., K. N. (2007). Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2, Greenwood Press, Westport/Connecticut.