Voices of witness during the 'crisis in masculinity': Contemporary British women playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre

This dissertation examines the work of British women playwrights associated with London's Royal Court Theatre from 1994 to the present day. First, this study analyzes the framing of Royal Court productions as influenced by the theatre's association with the post-war generation of "angry young men" and hype surrounding "Cool Britannia." I then engage in close critical readings of representative plays within women's work at the Court. My work is unique in considering the work of recent Court playwrights in tandem with works by established playwrights such as Caryl Churchill and Timberlake Wertenbaker as a means of illustrating generational shifts and continuities. The works of playwrights such as Sarah Kane, Judy Upton and Rebecca Prichard have often been misleadingly categorized as coalescing with "laddish" prerogatives, but actually offer a more substantial critique of patriarchal values than has been recognized.;This study is intended as a revisionist counterpart to a critical emphasis on masculinity by exposing some of the playwrights' themes that have long been central to feminist critiques. I argue that the women playwrights follow the political tendencies of previous feminist generations by indicating gender double standards within the media, education, criminal justice, and mental health institutions. This study utilizes works by Foucault and Althusser to examine portrayals of societal roles such as motherhood and women criminals, which were particularly contested during the period.;The most pervasive critique of the 1990s "in-yer-face" playwriting era has been that its depictions of sex and violence are gratuitous, leading to voyeuristic views of the lower classes. In contrast, I utilize psychoanalytical works and the emerging field of trauma studies to apply the concept of witnessing to these plays. The playwrights examined utilize the witnessing function to open up dialogues stemming from traumas related not only to the international realm, but also to the domestic sphere. The plays' portrayals of cyclical violence remain worlds away from the prosperity of the "Cool Britannia" portrayed by the era's media.