A notable feature of Caryl Churchill’s post-1979 plays is overlapping speech notated in the play script. It can be variously interpreted by readers: as marking interpersonal opposition, lack of interest, self-centredness - or enthusiasm and support. So the reader’s understanding of overlapping may influence his/her interpretation of the dramatic situation and character. I propose that certain discursive features in the play script may affect this interpretation in particular ways. I shall briefly analyse some extracts from Churchill’s Top Girls using a Conversation Analysis- (CA) based ‘interactive’ approach to the overlapping dialogue. Essentially, I suggest that co-participants’ reactions to conversational actions should be attended to as they reflect the discursive significance of those actions. Consequently, interpreting overlaps as disruptive interruptions will to a large extent depend on the interruptee’s response format. An interpretative resource is provided for the analyst with regard to the dramatic situation and character.

Andriy Ivanchenko (Chukyo University) The script of Caryl Churchill’s short play Hot Fudge (similarly to several other plays by this author) contains detailed directions for overlapping conversation. At certain points in the play these may be contributing to a number of effects similar to those described for the naturally occurring “collaborative floor”, such as participants’ enthusiasm and mutual support. The importance of an “interactive” approach to constructed conversation is pointed out in the article, particularly that of analysing the overlapped speaker’s response to appreciate discursive significance of the overlapping turn. For instance, acknowledging and/or reusing the other’s overlapping formulations in a non-oppositional format can show the speaker’s understanding of those contributions as collaboratively oriented. Therefore, an “interactive” interpretation of overlapping dialogue in a dramatic text will affect the reader’s understanding of the interpersonal context (e.g. dominance-seeking / mutual support / collaboration between pairs of speakers). Particularly, an “interactive” approach is taken to show how certain kinds of overlapping similar to those described for the naturally occurring conversation can be used dramatically for supportive rather than conflictive ends. Overall, it is shown how the dramatic characters’ interpersonal orientations become inferable from their use of certain dialogic options.