The Arden Shakespeare published a poetry collection titled On Shakespeare’s Sonnets in 2016 in which several contemporary poets have responded to one Shakespearean sonnet of their choice. Most of the themes in the sonnets such as the transience of earthly life, the endurance of love, and the procreation of beauty are retained in their modern versions. However, recent approaches to these themes do not follow the sonnet tradition due to the poets’ adherence to modern topics, as seen in the poems of Douglas Dunn, Jackie Kay, and Andrew Motion, and an emphasis on realism instead of the romanticised exaggerations in the sonnet genre, as observed in the poems by Alan Jenkins, Carol Ann Duffy, and Elaine Feinstein. In some of these poems, love for the beloved, for instance, is treated alternatively as a temporary feeling that cannot endure the passing of time. The platonic ideal of love for the beloved is reconstituted with a mother’s compassion for her son. The idea of the procreation of beauty is replaced with an adoration of the regenerative power of nature. In some others, the influence of the contemporary context is evident with indications of urban images such as traffic, technology, and shopping malls. Through such examples, this paper aims to discuss some of the rewritten versions of Shakespeare’s sonnets to explore the idea that recontextualisation and subversion of the source text are central to the practice of Shakespearean adaptation despite the initial tenet of the production of this particular collection, which is to celebrate Shakespeare’s literary heritage.

In Howard Barker’s Gertrude-The Cry (2002), all the things most popularly known about Shakespeare’s play Hamlet are subverted and transformed to a great extent. In this adaptation, the title character of the source text is changed from Hamlet to Gertrude, who is presented as a villainous woman in Hamlet with her potential involvement in her husband’s murder and subsequent marriage to Claudius. Barker alters the status of Hamlet as the tragic hero and makes his mother the new heroine of the play who does not conform to any of the norms set for her in Shakespeare’s text. Instead, Gertrude behaves as a woman extremely driven by erotic desire towards several male characters in the play. This paper analyses Barker’s rewriting as an attempt to challenge the norms of womanhood represented in conventional literary works. The transformations in Barker’s version are also related to women’s role and status in society at the time the play was written. Regarding the dominant ideas of the play such as personal will and sexual liberation in light of the relevant legislations of the New Labour as the ruling party in Britain in the early years of the twenty-first century, Barker’s play is also discussed as a politically driven adaptation.

Among the political playwrights of the post-war British drama, Trevor Griffiths is known for his commitment to socialist ideals and his continuous search for an ideal social(ist) structure in his works. Coming from a working-class background and having met many notable intellectual socialists prior to his dramatic career, Trevor Griffiths dedicated his playwriting to debate about the present and future of socialism in Britain and elsewhere. Despite Griffiths's loyal attachment to socialism, his works provide a criticism of the left, left-wing parties, lack of unity among the proletariat, and lack of support and cooperation of the leftist parties in his country. The Party (1973) is one of those plays in which he provides a dialectical approach to an ideal understanding of socialism that is based on unity between the workers, the party as an organisation and the intelligentsia. Griffiths's main concern is to lay out some of the reasons for the failure of the left and claim that a true socialist revolution can never be possible unless a commitment is achieved by all involved parties. This paper discusses socialist Trevor Griffiths's play The Party as a criticism of the left in relation to prevalent concerns of Britain in the 1970s. While evaluating the reasons for Griffiths's criticism, the discussion of the play is also related to the Paris student riots as a casein-point failed socialist revolution attempt due to similar problems Griffiths observes in his country.

This paper discusses the social reasons for agoraphobia as a psychological disorder as observed in the women characters of British playwright Sue Townsend’s issue-based play Bazaar and Rummage (1982). The depiction of three agoraphobic women in a context characterised by patriarchal dominion constitutes the core of Townsend’s play. Although their problematic condition is presented rather comically, from their accounts, it seems apt to argue that societal oppression is the reason for their longlasting seclusion and constant fear of the outside world. The play offers a rummage sale as an opportunity for women to step outside and conquer their fear. Accordingly, in terms of presenting the psychological condition of women characters and associating the possible solution to their problem with a market occasion, Townsend’s play illustrates an example of feminist criticism. In this study, the play’s analysis is based on the 1980s context dominated by Thatcher politics, and Townsend’s portrayal of agoraphobia is discussed as a criticism of her society in which patriarchal hegemony plays a central role in women’s forced confinement.

İngiliz edebiyatının önde gelen kadın oyun yazarlarından biri olan Timberlake Wertenbaker, Our Country 's Good (1988) [Ülkemizin İyiliği] adlı oyununda hem savaş sonrası İngiltere'ye yönelik bir eleştiri hem de tiyatronun iyileştirici işlevi hakkında bir propaganda sunar. Thomas Keneally'nin The Playmaker (1987) adlı romanından esinlenilen bir oyun olan Our Country's Good, on sekizinci yüzyılda Avustralya'ya götüren bir gemide bir grup mahkûmun yaşadıklarını canlandırarak tiyatronun iyileştirici etkilerini konu edinir. Our Country's Good, geleneksel cezalandırma yöntemlerine inanan ve ağır cezaya alternatif olarak tiyatro yoluyla kurtuluş olasılığını öne sürenlerden oluşan farklı otorite figürlerini ele alır. Hükümlülere uygun cezalandırma yöntemleri konusunda görevlilerin çelişkili görüşlerini Foucault'cu bir bakış açısıyla incelemek mümkündür. Bu okuma, Foucault'nun, iş ve egzersiz yoluyla suçluların davranışlarının düzeltilmesi anlamına gelen ceza reformu önerisine dayanmaktadır. Bu makale, ceza kavramının toplumsal işlevine odaklanmakta ve Thatcher yıllarında İngiltere'de bu konulara ilişkin egemen ideolojinin ışığında Wertenbaker'in oyununda tiyatro ve ceza arasındaki ilişkinin temsilini analiz etmektedir.