From Chimera to Reality: Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica or ‘What State Are We in?’
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Christine Kiehl
Christine Kiehl is Senior Lecturer in English drama at the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France. She is a member of PASSAGES XX–XXI Research group. Her PhD thesis focuses on the question of the body in Howard Barker’s plays. Her research and publications focus on the relations between ethics and aesthetics and intermedial practices in contemporary British theatre. She is an associate to the Théâtre des Célestins and the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Lyon. As vice-president of RADAC (Research on Contemporary English Drama, www.radac.fr), she is co-editor of RADAC’s annual journal Coup de Théâtre. She has organised several international conferences: Theatre and Cinema (Université Paris 13, March 2012), Cinema and Theatre (Université Lyon 2, April 2013), Theatre and Photography (Université Paul Valéry- Montpellier 3, December 2016). She is co-organising the international conference “Crossing Borders: Contemporary Anglophone Theatre in Europe,” to be held in Paris, October 11–12, 2018.
Abstract
Mark Ravenhill’s 2007 Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat is a relevant state of the nation(s) play drawing an acid portrait of Anglo-American nations and their self-congratulatory ‘freedom and democracy’ propaganda in Irak. Other committed voices have made themselves heard on the British stage in addressing worldwide political and ethical issues. This paper focuses on Lucy Kirkwood, a young British dramatist whose pungent style was revealed in Tinderbox (2008), a dystopian farce set in 21st century England. Today, Lucy Kirkwood (33) who sees herself as ‘a radical young dramatist,’ continues to explore the confused landscape of western democracy: she sketched the relations between the USA and China in Chimerica (2013), an epic drama which won her an Olivier Award for Best New Play. In the wake of Brexit and the Trump election, Lucy Kirkwood has recently announced that she would pursue her investigation of the leading nations’ policies: “The whole of democracy looks fragile and farcical. After writing about communist China in Chimerica, you suddenly look at western democracy and think: is this necessarily better? Maybe this is the endgame” (Lawson, “Chimerica”).This paper explores Kirkwood’s vitriolic portrait of today’s leading nations, and her questioning of universal concerns experienced on a personal level such as power and privacy, nationalism and identity, profit and subservience. I will examine her peculiar ability to reformulate a ‘state-of-the-nation’ format and associate innovation and convention in her treatment of subject matter, language, dramatic form and performance.
About the author
Christine Kiehl is Senior Lecturer in English drama at the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France. She is a member of PASSAGES XX–XXI Research group. Her PhD thesis focuses on the question of the body in Howard Barker’s plays. Her research and publications focus on the relations between ethics and aesthetics and intermedial practices in contemporary British theatre. She is an associate to the Théâtre des Célestins and the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Lyon. As vice-president of RADAC (Research on Contemporary English Drama, www.radac.fr), she is co-editor of RADAC’s annual journal Coup de Théâtre. She has organised several international conferences: Theatre and Cinema (Université Paris 13, March 2012), Cinema and Theatre (Université Lyon 2, April 2013), Theatre and Photography (Université Paul Valéry- Montpellier 3, December 2016). She is co-organising the international conference “Crossing Borders: Contemporary Anglophone Theatre in Europe,” to be held in Paris, October 11–12, 2018.
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction
- Nation and Negation (Terrible Rage)
- “Can I Tell You about It?”: England, Austerity and “Radical Optimism” in the Theatre of Anders Lustgarten
- Theatricalizing the National Housing Crisis in Mike Bartlett’s Game and Philip Ridley’s Radiant Vermin
- BlackLivesMatter: Remembering Mark Duggan and David Oluwale in Contemporary British Plays
- Fake News and Drama: Nationalism, Immigration and the Media in Recent British Plays
- Experiencing Nationlessness: Staging the Migrant Condition in Some Recent British Theatre
- Multiculturalism, (Im)Migration, Theatre: The National Arts Centre, Ottawa, a Case of Staging Canadian Nationalism
- ‘For We Are American’: Postmodern Pastiche and National Identity in Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
- ‘The State of Us’: Challenging State-Led Narratives through Performance during Ireland’s ‘Decade of Centenaries’
- The State We’re in: Violence and Working-Class Women on and off the Contemporary Irish Stage
- Before the Fall: Looking Back on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s “This Other Eden” Season (2001)
- From Chimera to Reality: Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica or ‘What State Are We in?’
- Does Verbatim Theatre Still Talk the Nation Talk?
- “What I’m Aspiring to Be Is a Good Dramatist”: Alecky Blythe in Conversation with Chris Megson
- A Victory for Real People: Dangers in the Discourse of Democratisation
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction
- Nation and Negation (Terrible Rage)
- “Can I Tell You about It?”: England, Austerity and “Radical Optimism” in the Theatre of Anders Lustgarten
- Theatricalizing the National Housing Crisis in Mike Bartlett’s Game and Philip Ridley’s Radiant Vermin
- BlackLivesMatter: Remembering Mark Duggan and David Oluwale in Contemporary British Plays
- Fake News and Drama: Nationalism, Immigration and the Media in Recent British Plays
- Experiencing Nationlessness: Staging the Migrant Condition in Some Recent British Theatre
- Multiculturalism, (Im)Migration, Theatre: The National Arts Centre, Ottawa, a Case of Staging Canadian Nationalism
- ‘For We Are American’: Postmodern Pastiche and National Identity in Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
- ‘The State of Us’: Challenging State-Led Narratives through Performance during Ireland’s ‘Decade of Centenaries’
- The State We’re in: Violence and Working-Class Women on and off the Contemporary Irish Stage
- Before the Fall: Looking Back on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s “This Other Eden” Season (2001)
- From Chimera to Reality: Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica or ‘What State Are We in?’
- Does Verbatim Theatre Still Talk the Nation Talk?
- “What I’m Aspiring to Be Is a Good Dramatist”: Alecky Blythe in Conversation with Chris Megson
- A Victory for Real People: Dangers in the Discourse of Democratisation
