Valorisation of Mythological Female Characters in the Writings of Azama, Huston, Lemoine, and Py, at the Turn of the Century (1980–2020)

Abstract

In mythological rewritings in French and Francophone theatre at the turn of the century, female characters are valorised compared to their counterparts in hypotexts. They obtain a more significant role through various processes. The aim of the paper is to explore this issue, and, above all, to examine how the foregrounding of female characters is achieved in the rewritings of Enchaîné [Bound] by Olivier Py, Iphigénie ou le péché des dieux [Iphigenia or the Sin of the Gods] by Michel Azama, Jocasta reine [Jocasta Regina] by Nancy Huston, and Médée, poème enragé [Medea, Written in Rage] by Jean-René Lemoine. These particular works have been selected, among others, because they are representative of the process of attributing more significance to mythological female characters.