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Journals / Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi / 2026 / Sayı: 34

Rewriting Women and Trauma: Zinnie Harris’s This Restless House

Zinnie Harris'in This Restless House Oyununda Kadın ve Travmanın Yeniden Yazımı

Özlem Karadağ(ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LETTERS)0000-0002-6670-6060
Pages
19–37
Publication Date
2022-06-29
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In the light of trauma theory, acting-out & working-through, hauntology, bearing witness and testimony, this article explores staging uncommunicable traumas and the transmission of traumatic experience through retelling and re-enacting.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This article aims to argue that Zinnie Harris’s This Restless House, which is a rewriting of Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, is an attempt to give voice to Clytemnestra’s and Electra’s disregarded wounds, claiming that overlooked and/or suppressed traumas demand to be communicated on stage, seeking justice and solace.
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Key Findings & Data:The act of rewriting by women is also interpreted as an act of reckoning for the trauma of the negation/misrepresentation of the female voice in the canon.
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Conclusion & Impact:In the light of trauma theory, acting-out & working-through, hauntology, bearing witness and testimony, this article explores staging uncommunicable traumas and the transmission of traumatic experience through retelling and re-enacting.
🔬Design:Research Article
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Zinnie Harris · This Restless House · Travma

Abstract

This article aims to argue that Zinnie Harris’s This Restless House, which is a rewriting of Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, is an attempt to give voice to Clytemnestra’s and Electra’s disregarded wounds, claiming that overlooked and/or suppressed traumas demand to be communicated on stage, seeking justice and solace. The act of rewriting by women is also interpreted as an act of reckoning for the trauma of the negation/misrepresentation of the female voice in the canon. Thus, rewriting a classical play functions on two levels, it helps moving female characters and their traumas centre stage, and with the attendance of the live audience the play experiments with the experience of bearing witness to and transmission of women’s traumatic stories. In the light of trauma theory, acting-out & working-through, hauntology, bearing witness and testimony, this article explores staging uncommunicable traumas and the transmission of traumatic experience through retelling and re-enacting.

Özet

Bu makale, Aeschylus'un Oresteia üçlemeisnin bir yeniden yazımı olan, Zinni Harris'in This Restless House oyununun, travma ve tanıklığın sahnede söz hakkı istediğini, adalet ve teselli aradığını iddia ederek, Clytemnestra ve Electra'nın görmezden gelinmiş yaralarına söz hakkı verme çabası olduğunu tartışmayı amaçlar. Bu sebeple, kadın yazarların yeniden yazma eylemi de külliyatta eksikliği görülen veya yanlış temsil edilen kadın sesinin travması için bir hesaplaşma olarak okunabilir. Bu amaçla, ağırlıklı olarak eril kalan tiyatronun kullanılması ise, hem klasik bir oyun yazarının otoritesine meydan okuması hem de seyirciyi kadın karakterlerin travma anlatılarına tanıklık etmeye davet etmesi sebebi ile eşsiz bir şekilde işlev görür. Bu makale, travma kuramının ve eylemleme ve çözüm, musallatoloji, tanıklık ve ifade gibi kavramların ışığında dile dökülemeyen travmaların sahnelenmesini ve travmatik deneyimlerin yeniden anlatım ve yeniden canlandırma ile bulaştırılmasını irdeler.

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Cite This Article

Karadağ, Ö. (2022). Rewriting Women and Trauma: Zinnie Harris’s This Restless House. Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi, Sayı: 34, 19–37. https://doi.org/10.26650/jtcd.2022.1097604

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