"Dancing as if Language no Longer Existed": Politics of Songs and Dance in Lynn Nottage's Ruined

Document Type : Original Article

Author

College of Arts and Humanities, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

One of the most notable African American playwrights in contemporary drama is the well-known American writer Lynn Nottage. Her play Ruined earned her the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. After her play was published, she gained a solid reputation as one of Africa's leading advocates for women's rights. This paper aims to explore how music and dance continue to contribute new and intricate levels of meaning to Nottage's Pulitzer Ruined (2008). This quality still distinguishes her as a playwright. Ruined is no exception because music is a recurring theme in Nottage's plays. Most frequently, they advance the plot, elaborate emotional interiority, strengthen bonds, promote the formation of bonds or their destruction, or speed up or emphasize plot elements. In other words, Nottage's Ruined might be understood as an effort to transcend language through dance, songs, and music, in which many of the broken women search for a place where they can exist honestly. This paper contends that Nottage allows us to consider the intricacy of writing and documenting acts of survival in ways that can capture the process of recognition and healing by offering songs to the women to communicate their grief and aspirations. Embodiment in dance and music provides us with new ways to process our emotions and transforms a drama that might otherwise be sad, harsh, and violent into a tale of hope, resiliency, and, to some level, sorority. In a manner that words cannot, songs and dance in Ruined provide a chance to comprehend the characters' identities better.

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About the Author:

Muhammed Subhi Salama is an assistant professor of English, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. He is affiliated with Almaraaf Higher Institute for Languages and Translation. He has published extensively on Martin McDonagh, Brian Friel, Conor McPherson, Amiri Baraka, Mahesh Dattani and on American playwrights like Lynn Nottage and others.

References

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