The political plays of Arthur Miller and Kee Thuan Chye: Resisting the hegemonic state / David Tneh Cheng Eng

David, Tneh Cheng Eng (2016) The political plays of Arthur Miller and Kee Thuan Chye: Resisting the hegemonic state / David Tneh Cheng Eng. PhD thesis, University of Malaya.

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Abstract

The plays of Arthur Miller and Kee Thuan Chye have garnered interests from theatre enthusiast, the general public, and academicians for their moralistic and didactic plays that often touch on moral and political issues that affect society and the individual. Their plays are most often a reflection of their country’s socio-political and socio-economic development and highlight the concerns of the playwright on issues pertaining to the individual, society, and nation. As such, this thesis has closely analysed the selected political plays of Kee, namely, 1984 Here and Now, The Big Purge, We Could **** You, Mr. Birch and Miller’s The Crucible, Incident at Vichy, and The Archbishop’s Ceiling from the perspective of the plays being ‘resistance’ plays that empower the individual while resisting the hegemonic and political state depicted in the plays. In addition, issues such as corruption and abuse of political power by the state and individuals and the persecution of the innocent are characteristics of Kee and Miller’s plays. In response, Kee and Miller’s plays emphasize the need for the individual to make a moral stand and to resist the hegemony of the state and its agencies. The traditional view of Miller’s and Kee’s political plays is that their plays are always very didactic, moralistic, and direct in their narrative and plot. The findings of this research posits that there is a development in Miller’s and Kee’s selected political plays and both dramatist have experimented with creative dramaturgical strategies and incorporated elements of Butler’s Performativity and Todorov’s the Fantastic in their third wave of political plays. There is therefore a shift in the dramaturgical strategy of Miller’s and Kee’s work that sees their plays becoming ‘creative resistance plays’ that transcend the traditional view of Miller’s and Kee’s political plays as merely traditional political stage plays of their time. Thus this thesis will not only give a different perspective/reading to the political plays of Miller and Kee, but also on the possibility of incorporating newer creative dissenting strategies in the traditional political plays iv genre and how political plays could be a form of political communication, an important aspect in nation building and creative means of resistance/dissent.

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