The Performance of Trauma in Contemporary Drama: Philip Ridley, debbie tucker green and Nora Amin

This thesis explores the representations, effects and methods of resolution from traumatic
experiences in five plays by contemporary British and Egyptian playwrights, from 2000 to
2019. It considers the dramaturgical choices that each playwright makes in order to present the
performance of trauma onstage. The thesis uses psychiatric and cultural trauma theory to
analyse the effects and expressions of traumatic anguish in the plays examined. It also seeks to
decolonise the study of trauma in the theatre by analysing traumatic experiences and expression
across cultural differences. By so doing, the thesis highlights recurrent experiences of
oppression and marginalisation. The Introduction of this thesis gives an overview of the ways
that contemporary theatre engages with trauma. It also reviews the academic texts that explore
this link and establishes that this thesis aims to fill the gap in theatre studies by representing the
trauma of minorities and disempowered groups. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the
development of psychological trauma as a concept in the fields of psychiatry and cultural
trauma theory and establishes the framework for the main topics that I discuss in my thesis. It
also introduces the criticism of cultural trauma theory for its perceived lack of inclusivity and its
Eurocentric bias. Chapter 2 focuses on Philip Ridley’s Vincent River and Leaves of Glass to
argue that the plays reflect the importance of reconstructing traumatic pasts through narrative, a
predominant concept in Western trauma studies. Chapter 3 examines debbie tucker green’s hang
and stoning mary, to argue that marginalised groups and racial minorities experience different
traumatic experiences from the majority and can also express their pain differently. Finally,
Chapter 4 is an examination of Nora Amin’s Theatre of Crime, a play depicting a sexual assault
on a woman and the ensuing police investigation, where I argue that the play seeks to make the
audience aware of their responsibility in creating and perpetuating the conditions that allow for
violence against women and urges them to change these conditions.