Audience's Potential Reaction to Act One Scene Two of A Taste of Honey
Back in the late 1950s, audiences who would go to see plays such as A
Taste of Honey would see things a lot differently and react in a
different way to audiences seeing the play today. In general, people
were shocked much more easily at the time when Shelagh Delaney wrote
the play. Back then, people of different races would not have been
accepted into the white community, homosexual acts were illegal, and
hardly anybody lived in poor conditions, as did Helen and Jo. Some
members of the audience may even have been offended that the area in
which they lived was being portrayed as having people such as Helen
and Jo living in it. Issues raised in the play would have been seen as
much larger problems in the late 1950s, than they would now.
Compared with the first scene of the play, Act One Scene Two is very
different. In Act One Scene One, there is mainly dialogue between
Helen and Jo. The conversation is sharp and fast, as both women are
equally exasperated with each other. Moving into Scene Two the pace
slows considerably, due to the tension and uncertainty between Jo and
her boyfriend. After the first scene, Act One Scene Two moves the play
along quickly, introducing a new character, Jimmie, who is heavily
involved in the occurrences of the rest of the play. The scene falls
into four main parts, two of which are based around Jo and her
boyfriend and two involve Jo's confrontations with Helen. Alternating
the parts in this way allows the audience to see how one area of Jo's
life affects her actions and emotions in the other.
Jimmie is a coloured nurse who is a m...
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...er pressure from Jo, continues to say that,
"He wasn't an idiot, just a bit - retarded."
This comment upsets Jo, and she worries that her father's genes are
hereditary. Helen assures Jo that she is definitely not "daft," again
showing her more sensitive side. She then hurries off to her wedding,
and the scene closes.
Many problems are introduced during the scene, hardly any of which are
resolved. This is also the same for the whole play, as there appears
to be no closure for Jo. There are many aspects of Act One Scene Two,
which are included purely in an attempt to shock the audience of that
time, for example Jimmie's race, and Jo and Helen's living conditions.
Alternatively, Shelagh Delaney may have written about such scenarios
to try to alert members of the audience as to what really does go on
around them.
I think that people who grew up in the sixties and worked during the time period would enjoy the play. I feel that they would have a different understanding of it because they grew up in the time period and lived through what was going on. Over all the play head a straight forward point that in my opinion put J. Pierrepont Finch as the protagonist because everything revolved around him, he had a simple objective and every set or choice he made affected something or someone.
Theatres and How We Had Fun." Little, Brown, and Company. (Boston, Toronto, London); 1991. P. 139, 144.
it also wants to surprise in terms of what is going to happen in the
As soon as you read the opening lines of Act3, Scene 1 you can tell
that the play is going to take place in a quiet, beautiful city but in
...wn opinion and as a way to persuade the audience to have the same view.
play. If the play was shown in these days, I doubt it would have the
years ago the word "theater" possessed a different meaning than it does in today's society. The
It might be argued that this scene could contribute a new spectrum of character development to the play. However, the advantages resulted from excluding the scheme far outweigh the disadvantages. Hence, in the best interest of the play, the scene should be excluded.
Romeo and Juliet is a famous play that was first performed between 1594 and 1595, it was first printed in 1597. Romeo and Juliet is not entirely fictional as it is based on two lovers who lived in Verona. The Montague’s and Capulet’s are also real. Romeo and Juliet is one of the ten tragedies that William Shakespeare wrote. In this essay, I aim to investigate what act 1, scene1 makes you expect about the rest of the play.
Without Act 2 Scene 2 the whole play makes no sense. This is the scene
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In the words of Harvey Fierstein, “What looks absolutely fabulous in rehearsal can fall flat in front of an audience. The audience dictates what you do or don't change”. Clearly, the success or failure of any work of art depends, almost entirely, on its ability to engage and connect with its audience. Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in history, certainly understood this concept. He targeted his Elizabethan audience skillfully, drawing them in and manipulating the way they interpreted his works. This is evident in one of his renowned plays, Hamlet. Attempts to target the audience are evident throughout the play, but focusing on one speech can provide a greater appreciation for Shakespeare’s deliberate efforts. In act four, scene two, while explaining that Polonius is dead, Hamlet says:
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Rosaline has sworn to be a virgin and not to love or marry any man.