UN-OFFICIAL POLITICAL THEATRE IN SCOTLAND: FIGHTING HEGEMONY IN LYNDSAY'S "ANE SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESAITIS" AND McGRATH'S "THE CHEVIOT, THE STAG, AND THE BLACK, BLACK OIL"

Abstract

When subversiveness enters the theatrical domain it becomes a powerful weapon to redirect the masses and to display certain unofficial knowledge(s) which have been to some exent, implicit, hidden oi-disguised under false appearances, thus becoming distorted. Political theatre aims at criticising from within the flaws of society at a particular moment in time and the abuses of those in power by means of providing their own version of what is “officially” accepted. Lindsay’s “An Satyre of the Three Estaitis” and McGrath’s “The Cheviot, the stag and the Black, Black Oil” are examples of some sort of political or “agit-pop” theatre emerged in two different periods of political, social and cultural upheaval in Scotland. In comparing both plays. I will show how these two Scottish plays depict the ways in which subversion enters the stage to undermine authority and how “unofficial” performances provide audiences with different portrayals of a same reality.