캐릴 처칠의 『클라우드 나인』과 『비네거 톰』에 사용된 장소의 중요성

Abstract

This paper examines two of Caryl Churchill’s most successful plays Cloud Nine and Vinegar Tom in terms of how the playwright effectively uses places presented in the works. In Cloud Nine’s first act, she presents male and female characters each associated with outside and inside of the house. Women, particularly Betty is associated with the house and family, and is called “angel of the house.” She is controlled and influenced by patriarchal society’s power over women. In the second act, the first act’s house has already been destroyed—most symbolically in Cathy’s painting. All characters interact with one another in a most public place—a park. No house is actually presented but only talked about. Characters are in the middle of destroying and reconstructing their homes. Churchill does not present any positive image of a home in which women have freedom and independence. She only gives a promise of a start of a new kind of a family as Betty, Lynn and Edward start to live together with two children. In Vinegar Tom, all houses/homes except one present negative images. Betty and Alice wish to leave their homes while Jack and Magery’s home is a place where the woman continues to work while the man surveys her. The only place of an alternative order is Ellen’s cottage, where equality and freedom of women are supported. However, as Ellen is hanged by witch hunters, her place cannot be a place of a promise to women. In Churchill’s drama, often cross-casting of actors and actresses has been the most examined point. As this paper’s analysis shows, however, close examinations of places used in Churchill’s plays enhance the understanding of her works.