Vinegar Tom By Caryl Churchill Conversation Topics What

Vinegar Tom By Caryl Churchill

Conversation Topics What resonated most with your own life experience? When did you feel most uncomfortable while reading? What type of design opportunities did you notice? What sections confused you? What type of Feminism did this piece portray?

Other Significant Works ● ● ● The Ants-First radio play Perfect Happiness- didn’t transfer to stage from radio well Owners Traps Light Shining in Buckinghamshire ○ Same time as Vinegar Tom ● Cloud Nine ● Love and Information (Keyssar)

Major Events of the Era 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil rights act which “outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Lytle)” 1967 -President Johnson signs the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (Lytle) 1972 -President Nixon signs the Title IX Education amendment into law (Lytle) 1973 -The Rehabilitation Act makes it illegal to discriminate against employees who have disabilities (Lytle) 1978 - The Pregnancy Discrimination act makes it illegal to discriminate against women because of pregnancy or the possibilities of pregnancy (Lytle)

Production History First production- performed by Monstrous Regiment in London on October 12 th, 1976 (Fitzsimmons) 1992 off Broadway production Theater Labrador/New Georges. (Broadway World) 1993 in Chicago (Smith)

Reviews “Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom … may be set in the world of seventeenth-century witchcraft, but it speaks, through its striking images and its plethora of ironic contradictions, of and to this century’s still deep-rooted anti-feminism and women’s oppression…”-Tribune, Dec. 1976 (Fitzsimmons). “The play falters in its lack of faith in dramatic analogy, let alone the power of the story as it stands. The music… spells out the fact that we all need to find something to burn… such sentiment, although arguably admirable, is hardly achieved in the play itself. Or, rather, it is potentially achieved and then tossed away in righteous overstatement. ”-Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 15 Dec. 1978 (Fitzsimmons)

Reviews Continued “The play text is not strong enough to withstand the breaking of its rhythm and antagonism of the musical interludes…”- David Zane Mairowitz, ‘God and the Devil, Plays and Players, Feb 1977, p. 24 (Fitzsimmons) “Susan shows how women can remain unconscious of their oppression and can victimize themselves and others…” -Janelle Reinelt, ‘Beyond Brecht: Britain’s New Feminist Drama’, Theatre Journal, XXXVIII (Fitzsimmons)

Glossary Succubus (137): “a demon assuming female form to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep” (Merriam-Webster) Strumpet (137): “prostitute” (Merriam-Webster) Hysteron (149): “Definition of hysteron Proteron- a figure of speech consisting of the reversal of a natural or rational order (as in “then came thunder and the lightning”)” (Merriam-Webster) Red Cow (151): Red Heiffer in Book of Numbers that pure cow with no blemishes is burned and it’s ashes is mixed with water and used to purify anyone who has touched a corpse. (Blau) Sprenger and Kramer (176): Writers of Malleus Maleficarum, their arguments on the reality of witches and how to convict them and why they were mostly women.

Socio/Political Analysis Materialist Feminism: “Hadn’t you better have him, Betty, and be Happy? Everyone hopes so. Everyone loves wedding”(140) Unequal pay and belittling of women’s work: “Lazy slut, get on with it” (145) Abortions Decriminalized but still unattainable: Susan’s constant guilt and struggle with her abortion.

Churchill vs. Modernism Brechtian Techniques: Distantiation -”Man” Episodic Song - Used Differently Epic Theatre Directed at Audience: “Lament for the Witches” Last Verse (176) Realism Non Linear → Contiguity No Clear Protagonist No straight moral Character

Contemporary Audiences Planned Parenthood: Susan’s conflict throughout the piece with the abortion of her baby and the guilt from the society. Menstruation: “Blood every month, and no way out of that…” (146) “You will soon be well enough to be married” (149) Slut Shaming: “I want a man I can have when I want, ” (147) Domestic Abuse: “He doesn’t beat me” (147) Sexual Harassment: “Am I not handsome enough, is that it? ” (147) Use of current pop songs with the lyrics.

Dramaturgical Note Thank you for coming to Cornell College’s production of Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill. Although Vinegar Tom is placed in the 17 th century and was written in the 1976 it still has extreme relevance today in the fight for equality. In our production we kept the dated language but added purposeful anachronism in the set and prop design. The costumes kept close to the time period of witches. The contrast accented the obvious sexism that is still present in our lives today. The modern characters are all shown being stuck in the old fashioned world of discrimination against women. We stressed Susan’s concern with her abortion more in our production because of its direct relevance with the banning of Planned Parenthood’s across The United States.

Works Cited Blau, Joseph L. . “The Red Heifer: A Biblical Purification Rite in Rabbinic Literature”. Numen 14. 1 (1967): 70– 78. Web. Fitzsimmons, Linda. File on Churchill. London: Methuen Drama, 1989. Print. Keyssar, Helene. "The Dramas of Caryl Churchill: The Politics of Possibility. " Feminist Theatre (1984): 77 -101. Web. Linders, Annulla. “Victory and Beyond: A Historical Comparative Analysis of the Outcomes of the Abortion Movements in Sweden and the United States”. Sociological Forum 19. 3 (2004): 371– 404. Web. Lytle, Tamara. "50 Years of Progress. " HR Magazine June 2014: 26 -31. Web. Merriam-Webster, n. d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. Smith, Josefa. "Vinegar Tom. " Chicago Reader. N. p. , n. d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. "Vinegar Tom. " Broadway World. N. p. , n. d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. "Women's Earnings as a Percentage of Men's, 1951 - 2013. " Infoplease. U. S. Women's Bureau and the National Committee on Pay