Abstract
Ever since the emergence of the so-called Northern Ireland problem in 1968, the region, Ulster, has been immediately identified with violence. In the same way, plays concerning Ulster have tended to deal with terrorism in the current political context. Furthermore, these dramas are predominantly written by men and consequently, they present primarily male responses to the troubles reflecting "the rhetoric of heroism". Therefore, in this genre female playwrights are rare and their approach to the problem is remarkably different from that of their male counterparts. Anne Devlin and Christina Reid are both from Ulster and they share a common method in their playwriting. They examine Ulster's social background and explain human relationships in depth - especially the family - rather than politics and violence themselves. Among their dramas, Reid's Tea in a China Cup and Devlin's Ourselves Alone have particular similarities. Though the plays deal with families with different traditions and in different times, both dramas depict the struggle of female characters who attempt to free themselves from their stifling environments in the male-dominated Irish society. They also present hatred as the cause or the symbol of the divided communities in Ulster and show how antagonism is handed down through family traditions from generation to generation. Hence in this essay, I will concentrate on these two plays, chiefly in order to identify the relationship between family traditions and Ulster women.
