Scott, Shelley

Dr. Shelley Scott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dramatic Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She earned her Ph.D. from the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto. Dr. Scott is a member of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research.

Violent Woman as a New Theatrical Character Type

2007 0-7734-5445-4
This book analyzes plays by Canadian women that deal with real-life incidents of violent women. In each of the plays under consideration, the playwright is theatrically engaged with the social meaning of the woman’s violent act, asking how it was interpreted in public discourse, and investigating the implications of that interpretation. The female playwrights in this study have each made individual choices about the form in which they will tackle their tricky subject matter, and their choices make for varied and intriguing relationships with their audiences. Each play is also placed in the context of its social milieu by means of an examination of some of the inter-textual discourse surrounding its appearance. In every case, the fundamental question remains: what and how does the violent woman mean?