Professions In Contemporary Drama (theatre Studies)

The Professions in Contemporary Drama Edited by Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe intellect The Professions in Contemporary Drama Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe First Published in Great Britain in Paperback in 2003 by Intellect Books, PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK Published in Paperback in USA in 2003 by Intellect Ltd, ISBS, 5824 N.E. Hassalo St, Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA Copyright © 2003 Intellect All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. Copy Editor: Typesetting: Printing: Peter Young Macstyle Ltd, Scarborough, N. Yorkshire Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne, UK A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Electronic ISBN 1-84150-879-9 / ISBN 1-84150-047-X The cover photograph shows Daniel Illsley as Young Beckett in Dic Edwards' Wittgenstein's Daughter Contents Acknowledgements iv Contributors v Introduction Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe 1 1 2 Bouncer–Teacher–Doctor: Gentrification and the Role of the Outsider in the Plays of John Godber John Bennett ‘Appalling Teachers’: Masculine Authority in the Classroom in Educating Rita and Oleanna Michael Mangan 9 19 3 Theatricality and Madness: Minding the Mind-doctors Tim Shields 37 4 Carry on Welfare State: Orton, Nichols, and the Medical Profession Peter Buse 47 5 The Priest Character’s Space and Function in Contemporary British and Irish Drama Mária Kurdi 59 The Depiction of the Artist in David Storey’s Life Class: The Play as Visual Art Stephen Di Benedetto 75 6 7 The Artist as Character in Contemporary British Bio-Plays Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe 8 The Professional Archaeologist and The Aesthetics of Cultural Imperialism in Tony Harrison’s The Trackers of Oxyrynchus Alison Forsyth 9 Wittgenstein and Morality – The Playwright’s Purpose Dic Edwards Bibliography 87 101 115 133 III Acknowledgements Most of the essays in this volume are expanded versions of papers presented at a conference on The Professions in Contemporary British Drama, organised by Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe in conjunction with the Centre (now Institute) of English Studies, part of the School of Advanced Study, University of London, on March 6, 1998. The contributions by Mangan, Kurdi and Forsyth were written specially for this collection. Mária Kurdi has incorporated her longer treatment of John Barrett and Martin McDonagh from her book of essays Codes and Masks: Aspects of Identity in Contemporary Irish Plays in an Intercultural Context (Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang Verlag, 2000). An earlier version of the second part of Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe’s contribution appeared as ‘Writing about Artists: Self-referral in Drama and Society’, Critical Survey 10: 2 (1998), 52–60. IV Contribu