Abbass, S. (2020). Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire. CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education, 71(1), 95-114. doi: 10.21608/opde.2020.159764
Sahar Abdel Khaleq Abbass Abbass. "Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire". CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education, 71, 1, 2020, 95-114. doi: 10.21608/opde.2020.159764
Abbass, S. (2020). 'Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire', CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education, 71(1), pp. 95-114. doi: 10.21608/opde.2020.159764
Abbass, S. Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire. CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education, 2020; 71(1): 95-114. doi: 10.21608/opde.2020.159764
Upsurges of Metatheatrical Dramaturgy in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire
The primary concern of this paper is to focus on the use of metatheatre in 9 Parts of Desire (2006), a play written by the American Iraqi dramatist, Heather Raffo. The word “metatheatre” or “metadrama” was first coined in 1963 by Lionel Abel, who introduced a new form of drama that breaks with the modernist conventions and techniques. A discussion of the metatheatrical elements in 9 Parts of Desire enlightens interpretive potentials beyond the realm of its often-discussed traumatic nature. 9 Parts of Desire is a play that dramatizes the stories of nine Iraqi women. The narratives of these women are taken into limelight on Raffo’s versatile theatre, as the structure of her play breaks with the norms of traditional theatre. According to Lionel Abel, the word “metatheatre” is used to describe self- conscious theatre, one that demonstrates its own theatricality. Raffo’s artful self-reflexive and self-conscious devices helped portray a lively vision of both Iraqi women’s solid deep bonds to Iraq, and the US invasion’s impact on their lives. Meanwhile, Raffo managed to stimulate her audience/reader to think not only of the embedded meaning of the play’s perspectives but also of its crafty dramaturgy. Therefore, this paper explores how the employment of specific metatheatrical techniques in 9 Parts of Desire has helped enlighten the playwright’s unique vision of the emotional, cultural, and historical dimensions of her characters and their theatrical awareness, as well.
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