Questioning subjectivity in contemporary Scottish theatre : nation, identity and difference in Chris Dolan ’s Sabina!
Part of : Γράμμα : περιοδικό θεωρίας και κριτικής ; Vol.6, No.1, 1998, pages 151-167
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151-167
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Among the exponents of Scotland’s recent artistic, cultural and literary “ Renaissance” , questions of national identity and the investigation of “Scottishness ” are paramount concerns. Chris Dolan’s Sabina!, Fringe First at the 1996 Edinburgh Festival, is a play which conflates the Pygmalion myth with intriguing Pirandellian situations, and where the exploration of identity and nationality takes the shape of an imaginary journey and an encounter with difference embodied, in this case, by Tereza, a Czech dissident who shares a flat in Glasgow with Sandra, a Scottish young woman. An extremely funny comedy oferrors moving at a relentless pace, Sabina!is also a brilliant essay in the tragi-comic form with its questioning of theatrical conventions. Moreover, by showing the way identities —personal, social, cultural and national —are formed, or rather performed, Dolan ’ s play can be interpreted as an attempt to rescue Scotland from its long-established, hitstorically-induced cultural inferiorism by pointing to the creative potential inherent in a borderline culture.
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