War Time Women
Editorial Content Ambassador Bethan Whitear looks at the depiction of women in war in theatre and draws parallels between some of the iconic roles for women this season.
So far in the 2019 Festival Season, we’ve been given two plays set against a war or post-war backdrop: Plenty and The Deep Blue Sea. Both feature an ill-fated romance and a woman’s struggle with mental health and isolation. What draws them together most though are that they are both female lead. Let’s take a quick look at strong female leads in plays involving war.
Prior to the first act of the Greek play Antigone, a battle has taken place which has led to the deaths of Antigone’s brother princes. One is allowed a burial by King Creon, whilst the other is not. This civil war is a result of family conflict, which becomes develops into an intellectual war between Antigone and her uncle Creon through the play. We see the effects of war on her and on her family. Ultimately, her defiance and demise leads to Creon’s realisation of his own mistakes, when his son, Antigone’s fiancé, ends his own life out of heartbreak.
Women in Shakespeare’s war plays are often outnumbered by the male characters. Yet, in Coriolanus’ Volumnia and Lady Macbeth, we see women who have a strong influence on the men. Lady Macbeth’s quest for power plays a particularly powerful role in the play. Like Antigone, she is strong willed. Yet, her goals are impure and she encourages violence in her own home. Whilst the male characters choose war for glory, Lady Macbeth uses her domestic environment to achieve her goals.
In the more contemporary Plenty and The Deep Blue Sea, we see two women who are constrained and isolated after the Second World War. The end of the Second World War leaves Plenty’s Susan in crisis. Women may have gained the vote in part due to the roles of women in the First World War, yet the second leaves Susan unfulfilled. In these plays, we see the disorder war can have on humanity.
Focusing on the role of women in a time of war seems to allow playwrights to showcase women in a particular way. Often, they are defying something, whether it be defying society’s assumptions of a woman’s role or the law. Even if they are going beyond the war, these female characters are dynamic and have lived on for a reason.
Get £5 tickets for The Deep Blue Sea. Look out for Hedda Tesman and Macbeth later this season, two more stories with powerful female roles.