Realism and the Female Subject in Jacqueline Rudet's Basin

Realism and the Female Subject in Jacqueline Rudet's Basin! M. SUSANA REDONDO Despite the diversity of dramatic and theatrical practices in western theatre during the last decades, realism still appears to have a dominant role, particularly in mainstream circles. The strictly codified nature of this theatrical practice has been defined and challenged by scholars and theatre practitioners. Catherine Belsey, for instance, develops for the novel a theory on classic realism which also applies for the theatre.' In a much quoted passage, she argues that "[c]lassic realism is characterized by illusionism, narrative which leads to closure, and a hierarchy of discourses which establishes the 'truth' of the story." In the theatre, illusionism is served by various aspects of representation : costumes, set, props, lights, acting style, and so forth which purport to imitate "reality." Realistic appearances are also sustained by recurrent narrative patterns which, according to Belsey, [tum] on the·creation of enigma through the precipitation ofdisorder which throws into disarray the conventional cultural and signifying systems ... But the story moves inevitably towards closure which is also disclosure, the dissolution of enigma through the fe-establishment of order, recognizable as a reinstatement or a development of the order which is understood to have preceded the events of the story ilSelf.3 Most significant in Belsey's conceptualization is that this artistic practice fulfils an ideological role both by "represent[ing] the myths and imaginary versions of .real social relationships which constitute ideology" and by "interpellat[ing] the reader[/spectator], address[ing] itself to him or to her directly, offering the [spectator] as the position from which the text is most 'obviously' intelligible, the position of the subject in (and of) ideology.'" Thus, it can be argued that realism's structures and signifying practices are implicated in the processes of cultural signification that produce and sustain larger structures of hegemonic discourse.5 As has been pointed out by many Modem Drama, 40 (l997) 477 M. SUSANA REDONDO scholars, such social and discursive practices (re)produce individuals as gendered subjects within a basic (hetero)sex/gender economy· Within such economy , men usual1y occupy subject positions. whereas women are invisible, marginalized andlor relegated to object positions. By and large, hegemonic discourses tend to ignore andlor deny women their status as social heterogeneous subjects whose identities are in a constant process of construction characterized by contradiction, multiplicity, instability, and difference. Is there any hope then for realism particularly as it concerns women? Considering that dramatists write realist plays that feature women as central characters, tell women's stories, and/or invite the spectatorto see the dramatic events from the perspective of a female (character), what positions are available for women within these contemporary re-workings of the realist form? Whath appens if/when the female appropriates the subject position traditionally assigned to the male by the realist discourse? Is it possible to argue that a somewhat modified realism can actually articulate viable positions for women without succumbing, as Elin Diamond suggests, "to its ideological conservatism ?"7This article will attempt to answer these questions through the textual analysis of Jacqueline Rudel's Basin, first produced at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs on 29 October 1985' Following Belsey's definition of classic realism, I would like to observe the effect that the play's predominantly realist features have in the detetmination of positions for women, positions which female spectators are encouraged to occupy. The analytical focus then will be on the internal structuring of the text and the female positions it makes available fundamentally through the characters and the narrative movement which, in tum, according to Annette Kuhn, are the two main forms of identification with which the spectator is involved" BASIN The play deals with the friendship between three Dominican women: Mona, Susan, and Michele who now live in London. It is set in Mona's flat after the previous night's party. The three women call themselves "zammies," a term that refers to "the universality of friendship between black women.,,10 Mona, Susan, and Michele give life to this term through their interactions and their reflections upon their experiences, relationships, and feelings both back home and in the present. The friendship, however, is momentarily...