Power and Resistance in Post 9/11 Theatre in Anne Nelson’s The Guys (2002), Dennis Kelly’s Osama the Hero (2005) and Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced (2012)

Abstract

Abstract Literature and stage performance have been profoundly influenced by the unforgettable political events of 9/11. This thesis attempts to explore power and resistance in three post 9/11 plays from three different perspectives: the American embedded in Anne Nelson’s The Guys (2002), the British as in Dennis Kelly’s Osama the Hero (2005) and the Ethnic represented in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced (2012), showing different aspects of power mechanisms and variable sorts of resistance. It will be clear how each playwright tackled the 11th of September events according to the encodes of his own culture and ideology. The thesis will be divided into an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. The introduction will be devoted to the theoretical framework. Each play will be analyzed in the light of the modern and postmodern theories of power to show the weaving and interweaving of power relations as they prefigure in American, British and Ethnic post 9/11 theatre with special reference to Michael Foucault.