Churchill’s plays, as the course of this thesis will argue, reflect this shift from ‘solid’ to ‘liquid modernity’ in which the world’s underlying social structures shift from order to chaos. This specifically occurs in the evolution of dramatic form which develops according to the political and social world at the time of Churchill’s writing. Chapter One analyses the solid dramaturgical structure of Owners and Top Girls, which conform to Grochala’s explanation of ‘solid modernity’ as a phase characterised by logic, cohesion, and a linear sequence of events. I will argue that these plays accurately represent Britain in the late twentieth-century. Chapter Two investigates Churchill’s This is a Chair which marks a critical turning point in her career through which her dramaturgical form and content had to change to accurately represent the social and political reality at the turn of the millennium. Chapter Three discusses Far Away and Escaped Alone, placing them in Grochala’s phase of ‘liquid modernity’, defined by a feeling of ambiguity and uncertainty as a result of the globalised, digital age. Through rigorous analysis of the aforementioned works, this dissertation will explore Churchill’s shift in writing style, political tone, and the medium through which she presents these themes.
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