Alterity and hybridity in Bola Agbaje's Gone Too Far! and Caryl Churchill's A Number

This study evaluates the life and works of Caryl Churchill and Bola Agbaje, two of the most important female playwrights of the Contemporary British Theatre. In this dissertation, Agbaje's comedy, Gone Too Far! and Churchill's science fiction, A Number are critically examined for the concepts of alterity and hybridity. The first part of the thesis traces what alterity and hybridity are and how they are defined in different contexts. Various definitions of the two concepts are introduced in the light of some prominent philosophers' and critics' views. Gone Too Far! is an autobiographical play created by Agbaje depending on her personal experiences. Her characters struggle with the challenges of being black and immigrants in multicultural Britain. Agbaje shows this problem through the identity conflicts between black teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds. The issue of alterity arises both because of prejudices, racist thoughts and stereotypes, as well as the fact that characters do not embrace their own otherness, that is, their ethnic identity. What they need to overcome the issue is to build a hybrid identity and to live in harmony by having respect for the differences of the others. In A Number, the concept of alterity is a stand-out factor because the characters seek for originality as a result of cloning, even though they have different personality traits. Any efforts to build a self-centred identity negatively affect the relationship between "the self" and "the other." By shedding light on a future where hyperreality occurs as a result of the hybridization of reality and artificiality, Churchill highlights that it is important to build an identity by awareness of differences and similarities.