Ryan+Hebert

Literature online: Found same sites as William + -Haedicke, Susan C. Article (through doc. del). -Kate Flaherty article on 'Byrthrite' by Susan Daniels- another play, feminist themes as well.

---paraphrased from- Susan C. Haedicke article: In particular, how this play explores exploitation in work, but moreso in the home. The working girls are presented sympathetically, and blame is placed on the system. The Gut Girls are dominate their industry, unseen by the male foreman- so much so that they scare conventional men from their paths. The closure of their plant however forces them to alter their self image... -Lord Tartarden and Arthur are stereotypical males with patriarchial views.... -One by one the Gut Girls are silenced: Annie reverts to service; Kate through desiring advancement denounces Annie and her boyfriend; Polly is imprisoned when she acts in self-defense; Ellen admits defeat- that she must conform to survive; Maggie becomes a drudge married to Len, which is what she previously said she would avoid at all costs. -Their transformation to 'respectable women' breaks their spirits, as seen through Priscilla's mental and physical abuse -Susan Daniels thus challenges the audience to change the story...**
 * -She studies Gut Girls and another play, explaining important themes within it.

MLA Bibliographies shows criticism of other Daniels plays... Debling, Heather: 'How Will They Ever Heal ... ?' Bearing Witness to Abuse and the Importance of Female Community in Sarah Daniels's Beside Herself, Head-Rot Holiday, and The Madness of Esme and Shaz ; Modern Drama 51:2 2008 P. 259

Abstract: I**n her three women-and-madness plays, //Beside Herself, Head-Rot Holiday//, and //The Madness of Esme and Shaz//, Sarah Daniels presents conflicting views of female madness. While she is critical of a society that labels women's anger or refusal to conform as madness, she goes beyond the simplistic view of women's madness as misogyny to show the severe psychological pain suffered by women who have been the victims of verbal, physical, and particularly, sexual abuse. Healing from this type of abuse, Daniels suggests, is only possible through homosocial bonds with other women. Moments where women remain silenced and even complicit in the patriarchal systems and cycles of abuse that oppress, harm, and stifle all women are contrasted in these plays with those moments in which there is potential for change through speech and through women's support of one another, and it is through this contrast, through both the presence and the absence or subversion of testimony and community in these plays, that Daniels appeals to her audience and stresses that the only way forward for women who have endured such trauma is the establishment of an attentive and supportive female community.** -So far I can't find studies of Gut Girls in particular. However as this abstract can tell us, Susan Daniels writes plays that intricately deal with issues of women in society- and in fact, Gut Girls is different than these plays mentioned because after they are converted, the women have no supportive community- they are each trapped, oppressed, and their identities destroyed. -Ryan

Bakker, Pamela: 'Sarah Daniels' In (pp. 114-20) Bull, John (ed.), British and Irish Dramatists since World War II, Third Series. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2001. xxix, 417 pp.. ( Detroit, MI: Dictionary of Literary Biography 245 ). (2001)

-Since her two plays were produced in 1981, Sarah Daniels has become one of Britain's leading feminist playwrights. Her success has, however, been tinged by controversy and, often, by extreme critical backlash. Apart from the storm created by certain reviewers following //Masterpeices// (1983), and //Beside Herself// (1990), Carole Woddis' description of the playwright in //The Bloomsbury Theatre Guide// (1988) as "the only radical lesbian feminist to have made it into mainstream" may help to explain the source of her notoriety. The "lesbian" label does not adequately characterize her work, but, in spite of Trevor R. Griffith's' view that she is radical, as opposed to socialist, feminist stance has made her an "acceptable face of femninsm" it is the term //radical// that has made the most harm to her reputation. -This does her a disservice- it isolates her work to not only the category of out-of-date feminism, but this category insufficiently describes it. -While the radical stance is apparent in her work, it is more a reflection of society's values at the time of her writting, rather than a deliberate attempt to disseminate a particular brand of feminist theory. She (Daniels) has said "I don't read a book about some theory, and then think, oh, put the theory in the play." In the introduction to //Plays: One// (1991), Daniels tried to quash any process of labeling that might marginalize her work: "Feminism is now, like a panty-girdle, a very embarassing word. Once seen as liberating, it is now considered to be restrictive, passe/, and undesirable to wear. I didn't set out to further the cause of Feminism. However, I am proud some of my plays have added to it's influence."

Daniels defines 'Feminist Theatre' as follows: "A feminist play is something that isn't just about women; but challenges something to do with patriarchial society, or that actually pushes it one step further and challenges the status quo."

Certainly the notion of 'challenge' has become one of the hallmarks of Daniel's theatre. Her plays consistently challenge institutions of male authority over women, and they are, in turn, challenging to watch. It is this perhaps, over any aspect of feminist orientation, that has earned her the label of 'radical'. With subjects that range from lesbian motherhood, pornography, and incest, to mental illness, infanticide and self-harm, the radical nature of these plays lies in their ability to shock the audiences by dramaticizing openly, graphically, and unapologetically. The plays are able equally, however, to make audiences laugh, and this combination of the serious and the comic- or often, the absurd- is Daniel's most distinguishing characteristic. Lizbeth Goodman describes Daniel's type of theatre as "polemic feminist comic theatre" and suggests that her comedy, like that of Joan Lipkin and Bryony Lavery, plays a strategic role in presenting serious issues. While many of Daniel's characters use humour as a political weapon, the humour in her play has many roles. Ridicule is deployed effectively throughout //Ripen Our Darkness// (1981), for example, to lampoon repressentatives of oppressive patriarchial institutions; in //**The Gut Girls**// (1988), **the women use wordplay and laughter as antidotes to a bleakness of their work and also a means of subverting language, and thus, meaning itself.** In //Masterpeices// Daniels draws attention to misogynist forms of "humourous" language and the implications they hold for the balance of the sexes; ...etc.
 * Ortonesque** is an adjective often applied to Daniels' style, and certainly black, surreal, and irreverent best describe the type of humour at work in many of her plays, especially the earlier ones.

-Her humour though a great strength has been largely criticized particularly from male critics. Since much of her dramas are concerned with patriarchial institutions, the males are often harshly attacked through humour. Whether figures of ridicule in //Ripen Our Darkness// or //Byrthrite// (1986), the butt of practical jokes in //The Gut Girls//; or inadequate, vindictive fools in many of the plays, Daniels' male characters are not known for their sympathetic nature. Male critics therefore have often complained of being 'excluded' from her dramas. Female critics on the other hand, have tended to warm to her brand of humour, describing it as 'witty' 'mordant' and 'subversive'.
 * CRITICS On humour:**

Born on November 21 1957 in London, Daniels attempted her first play twenty-three years later almost by chance. Bored by the job she had at the time, she responded to an advertisement in //Time Out//, the magazine of the Royal Court Theatre in London, requesting manuscripts from new writers. Encouraged by the Royal Court literary manager's positive response to the play she submitted, she quickly developed several more. Her first two productions were staged in the summer of 1981. //Penumbra// was produced at the University Drama Studio at the University of Sheffield, where she was writer in residence in the English literature department. //Ripen Our Darkness// was produced at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs.
 * DANIELS:**

-p.120- Equally characteristic of Daniels is the resilience she has shown in the face of constant vilification of her work by critics. While her plays are not beyond criticism- she fully admits for example to overambition and to leaving issues unresolved in her plots- it is apparent that, even by the strictest theatrical standards, she is a playwright more sinned against than sinning. She has continued through the years to extend the perimeters of her dramaturgy and to offer audiences complex theatrical experiences that place the female experience center stage. -In addition to writing for the stage, Daniels also has written for radio and television, including the popular BBC series Grange Hill and Eastenders. She was writer in residence at the Royal Court Theatre in 1984 and has been a visiting lecturer at universities both in Britain and abroad. Her plays have appeared in Japan, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Germany, and Ireland.

-...info on other plays...-

-p.118: -Daniels' goal in the early to mid 1980's was to bring the voices of contemporary women to the stage; in the latter part of the decade she turned to history's forgotten female voices. //Byrthrite// deals with the torture and killing of 'witches' in seventeenth century England; //**The Gut Girls**// is set in the slaughterhouses in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Deptford- and attempts to paint a historically accurate picture of the ordinary women attempting to break free from physical, social, and economic restraints. Both plays challenge traditionally male representations of history by dramatizing aspects of women's lives in past eras. -...both //Byrthrite// and //The Gut Girls// demonstrate not only that women are crucial in the 'making' of history as men, but that their urge to record and understand it was equally ambitious.

-While //Byrthrite// and //The Gut Girls// are set in different periods and focus on a variety of different subjects, each play boasts an abundance of historical details that delineates the social and economic conditions under which women lived in the era depicted. Certain characters, Especially in //**The Gut Girls**//, are based on actual historical figures. -Daniels develops a snapshot approach by successfully highlighting then fading individual or group portraits of characters. -Daniels goal in both plays is to dramaticize women's contributions to the shaping of movements, events, and ideas of their times.

=-Ortonesque= =Orton, Joe= orig. **John Kingsley Orton** (From thefreedictionary.com) (born Jan. 1, 1933, Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.—died Aug. 9, 1967, London) British dramatist. Originally an unsuccessful actor, he turned to writing, finding success in 1964 when his radio play The Ruffian on the Stair was broadcast by the BBC. His three full-length plays, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1964), Loot (1965), and What the Butler Saw (produced posthumously, 1969), were black comedies that scandalized audiences with their examination of moral corruption, violence, and sexual rapacity. Orton's career was cut short when he was murdered by K.L. Halliwell, his lifelong companion, who afterward committed suicide.

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Questions to explore: -Who is the author? Other plays? (I know at least one called 'Byrthrite' exists, of a similar feminist nature).

-Deptford at turn of the century- England. What can we find out about the place- occupational opportunities, is this true or just the setting?

-Fallen women. How are they treated, explain situation for audience.

-'Service'- exactly what this entails, how frequent is domestic violence. What sort of people had them... it's kind of clear from the play, but what about finding historical information that will reinforce this theme.

-History of 'Etiquette' perhaps?

-Corporation of London is mentioned... is there more to be found on the butchering industry?