Out of the Prisonhouse: British Radical Feminist Theatre and Sarah Daniels' Ripen Our Darkness and Masterpieces

Abstract

The present article concentrates on British radical feminist drama, particularly on Ripen Our Darkness (1981) and Masterpieces (1983) by Sarah Daniels, the British feminist playwright, and aims to suggest that radical feminist theatre responds to the call of the French literary critic Hélène Cixous for writing specifically by and for women. The article studies the influence of radical feminist theory on radical feminist theatre in Britain and explores new forms and styles which enable radical feminist playwrights, and Sarah Daniels in particular, to re-examine and fragment classic realism. The analysis of the two plays, which achieved mainstream success and which Daniels wrote at the beginning of her career, aims to propose that the theatrical style corresponds with the character of the plays as Daniels supports the radical feminist debate by subversive and innovative theatrical strategies which complement the feminist character of her work.