Constructions of New Britishness in Winsome Pinnock’S Talking in Tongues, Mules, Can You Keep a Secret? And One Under

Abstract

While her early plays classify Winsome Pinnock as a Black British dramatist, she prefers racially ambiguous characters in her second phase plays problematising the representation of blackness as well as whiteness and Britishness. This dissertation analyses Winsome Pinnock's Talking in Tongues (1995), Mules (1996), Can You Keep a Secret? (1999) and One Under (2005), highlighting the ambiguity in racial identities in relation to the contemporary theoretical discussions of multiculturalism. Racial representation in Pinnock’s plays, which can be generally defined as ambiguous, is an embodiment of the discussion of multiculturalism in contemporary Britain. This also proves her ability to observe the society and to understand how racial concepts change in line with socio-political developments. Consequently, this study intends to demonstrate that the changing nature of Britishness can be observed in the second phase plays of Winsome Pinnock.