1. Debating Decolonization: The Use of Postcolonial Metatheatre in Murray Carlin's Not Now, Sweet Desdemona.
- Author
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Eward-Mangione, Angela
- Subjects
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PLAY within a play , *DECOLONIZATION , *POSTCOLONIALISM - Abstract
This article considers Not Now, Sweet Desdemona (1967) by the South African playwright Murray Carlin as an intervention in the critical and performance histories of Othello, situating Shakespeare's tragedy within contemporary postcolonial and apartheid-era debates. Carlin's play reveals multiple interlocking layers of meta-commentary to illustrate the ways in which Othello is haunted by postcolonialism. This reading builds on Marvin Carlson's notion of the haunted stage as well as Joanne Tompkins's account of postcolonial metatheatre, in which an embedded counter-discourse assists in the rereading, restructuring, and resituating of a "base" play. In the case of Not Now, Sweet Desdemona, Carlin engages metatheatrically with racist and misogynist discourses as well as with fields that are less often mentioned in discussions of postcolonial metatheatre, such as literary criticism and theatre history. Through these engagements, Carlin positions Othello as both a historical vector for racist ideologies and a more contemporary tool for challenging and dismantling systemic oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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