Girl, Woman, Other

by

Bernardine Evaristo

The National Theatre Symbol Analysis

The National Theatre  Symbol Icon

The National Theatre symbolizes the debate over whether lawful reform or radical change is the best path to achieving social justice. The National Theatre represents the historically white-supremacist, patriarchal foundation and culture of English society. For years, women like Amma and Dominique were shut out from that world. When the pair were first getting their start in the arts, the mainstream theater world typecast them into demeaning and stereotypical roles. These injustices forced them to the margins where they formed their Bush Women Theater Company, which centered the stories and voices of women of color and therefore was the antithesis of the National Theater. As outsiders of the mainstream theater world, Amma and Dominique stormed the balcony of the National to protest the institution and the white, patriarchal society it represents. By middle age, however, Amma and her formerly radical friends shift their approach, opting to reform the system from within rather than disrupt the system as outsiders. Amma’s latest play shatters the glass ceiling that kept women of color off the National Theatre’s esteemed stage and reveals a National Theatre that is slowly starting to diversify and become less exclusionary. In her new relationship to the National Theatre, Amma is straddling the middle ground. While premiering her play at the National Theatre makes Amma a lawful reformer, bringing subversive ideas to the National Theatre allows her to sustain her role as a radical.

Each of the novel’s main characters falls in their own place along the spectrum of radical versus reform. The National is the bridge that connects these wildly different characters and their different approaches to creating systemic change and, as such, it symbolizes how reformers and radicals play equally vital roles in inspiring change and seeking social justice. Amma and Dominique’s work from outside the mainstream theater world, which generated buzz and asserted a place for women of color in English culture and society, helps make possible the monumental moment of reform that is Amma’s premiere at the National Theatre. At the same time, characters like Roland and Carole make change from within existing institutions, ascending the ranks and infiltrating historically white, male institutions. Throughout the novel, the radicals and the reformers criticize and dismiss one another, but through their final convergence at the National (to witness the premiere of Amma’s play), the novel highlights that both sides have their role to play in social change, and that neither path is more noble or worthy than the other.

The National Theatre Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other

The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below all refer to the symbol of The National Theatre . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Diaspora, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: Amma Quotes

Amma then spent decades on the fringe, a renegade lobbing hand grenades at the establishment that excluded her

until the mainstream began to absorb what was once radical and she found herself hopeful of enjoying it

which only happened when the first female artistic director assumed the helm of the National three years ago

after so long hearing a polite no from her predecessors,

Related Characters: Amma (speaker)
Related Symbols: The National Theatre
Page Number: 2
Explanation and Analysis:

they decided they needed to start their own theatre company to have careers as actors, because neither was prepared to betray their politics to find jobs

or shut up to keep them

it seemed the obvious way forward

they scribbled ideas for names on hard toilet paper snaffled from the loo

Bush Women Theatre Company best captured their intentions

they would be a voice in theatre where there was silence

black and Asian women’s stories would get out there

they would create theatre on their own terms

it became the company’s motto

On Our Own Terms

or Not At All.

Related Characters: Amma (speaker), Dominique
Related Symbols: The National Theatre
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: The After-party Quotes

it was so odd seeing a stage full of black women tonight, all of them as dark or darker than her, a first, although rather than feel validated, she felt slightly embarrassed

if only the play was about the first black woman prime minister of Britain, or a Nobel prize-winner for science, or a self-made billionaire, someone who represented legitimate success at the highest levels, instead of lesbian warriors strutting around and falling for each other

during the interval at the bar she noticed a few members of the white audience looking at her different from when they’d all arrived in the lobby earlier, much more friendly, as if she was somehow reflected in the play they were watching and because they approved of the play, they approved of her

there were also more black women in the audience than she’d seen at any other play at the National

at the interval she studied them with their extravagant head-ties, chunky earrings the size of African sculptures, voodoo-type necklaces of beads, bones, leather pouches containing spells (probably), metal bangles as thick as wrist weights, silver rings so large their wingspan spread over several fingers

she kept getting the black sisterhood nod, as if the play somehow connected them together

Related Characters: Carole Williams (speaker)
Related Symbols: The National Theatre
Page Number: 418-419
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Girl, Woman, Other LitChart as a printable PDF.
Girl, Woman, Other PDF

The National Theatre Symbol Timeline in Girl, Woman, Other

The timeline below shows where the symbol The National Theatre appears in Girl, Woman, Other. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Amma
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...early morning, and Amma Bonsu is walking along the River Thames in London. A violinist plays an uplifting tune in the near distance as the sun is rising. Tonight her play,... (full context)
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...theater world. Now radical theater is becoming mainstream, and Amma was invited in by the National Theatre’s first female artistic director, who loved her play. As Amma continues to walk, the... (full context)
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...her an imposter and write negative reviews. She reminds herself that she’s experienced—having written 15 plays and directed over 40—and has a fantastic cast of actors for the play. She’s suddenly... (full context)
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
Back in the present, temporarily shaken from her flashback, Amma walks into the National Theatre and onto the stage. She stares out at the seats where more than 1,000... (full context)
Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality  Theme Icon
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...still be running hers, too. He wants her to return to community centers, making her plays accessible to all. She argues that she has the right to direct at the National... (full context)
Diaspora, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality  Theme Icon
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
Amma walks home from the National, thinking about how grateful she is to be a homeowner. When the tenants at Freedomia... (full context)
Chapter 1: Yazz
Diaspora, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality  Theme Icon
...her mother, Amma, saved for her, the best in the house. She’s worried that the play will be another embarrassment. Yazz quickly gets lost in thought as she observes everyone around... (full context)
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...and Yazz thinks Amma was guilty of that herself until landing the gig at the National and suddenly looking down on her old theater friends. She also criticizes her mom for... (full context)
Chapter 2: Carole
Diaspora, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
Love, Sexuality, and Race  Theme Icon
Home and Community  Theme Icon
Carole looks out at the National Theater, where a play about Black lesbian warriors is premiering. Freddy bought tickets, joking that... (full context)
Chapter 4: Megan/Morgan
Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality  Theme Icon
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...might become non-binary by getting a trendy haircut. Morgan told her that being trans isn’t “playacting an identity,” but is “something inside you” that’s been there for a long time, not... (full context)
Chapter 5: The After-party
Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality  Theme Icon
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...Black women “as dark or darker” than her. She may have felt validated if the play was about a black woman achieving “legitimate success,” rather than a bunch of lesbian warriors.... (full context)
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...of them with their middle fingers up, triumphantly standing on an exterior balcony of the National. Amma marvels at how young they look and how much time has passed since those... (full context)
Epilogue
Home and Community  Theme Icon
Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements  Theme Icon
...birthday, Penelope is traveling first-class on the train and reading a review of a new play at the National, her favorite theater in London. It’s a play about African Amazons and... (full context)