Explore the ways in which the opening of an inspector calls sets the
scene and prepares the audience for the downfall of the Birlings and
Gerald Croft
I am going to start my essay by looking at the way in which plays were
written and what theatrical genres were about in J.B Priestley’s day,
as this is likely to give an indication as to which genres influenced
him.
In Priestley’s day, there were four main genres that were performed at
the theatre, these include glamorous musicals, Shakespearian
tragedies, detective thrillers and serious drama like that of George
Bernard Shaw and T.S Eliot. I think that the detective thrillers
influenced Priestley to write “an inspector calls”. Most detective
thrillers, in those days involved one body, six suspects and an
inspector, they then try to find out who done it. These types of plays
are called morality plays.
J.B Priestley fought in World War I and had experienced life in
trenches, which where hell, and was a victim of a gas attack. This
might have been what formed his socialist view. He was not the only
writer to have socialist views after WWI; there were others such as
George Bernard Shaw. Priestley must have realised that if we don’t
care for each other and take responsibility for our actions there will
be more wars, so he wrote the play to send across the message that
people they have to take responsibility for their actions.
The class your family was in, in Edwardian times was very important
and Priestley makes it obvious that this family is an upper class
family from the very detailed stage directions at the beginning of the
play. “The Dining room of a fairly large suburban house, belonging to
a prosperous manufacturer. It has good solid furniture”. From this
quote we can tell that Priestley wants the family to look well off
because he describes their house as fairly big, and calls Mr. Birling
a Prosperous manufacturer which means he is a wealthy person and that
he has a well established business. He also describes their furniture
as good and solid. People in them days could not normally afford solid
furniture, so shows again this family’s wealth.
shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what
In this essay I shall concentrate on the plays 'Road' by Jim Cartwright and 'Blasted' by Sarah Kane with specific reference to use of language and structure of dialogue as examples of dramatic techniques.
words so that the sound of the play complements its expression of emotions and ideas. This essay
To realize the vision of the play, the script, set-up, costumes, stagecraft, sound design, and acting have to communicate a unified message with which the audience will relate. The script will be tailored to ensure that the audience can understand the play as it proceeds. This is in terms of the language and terms used. Though the language will not be modern, it will be English that can be understood by the audience. This will be English of antique England as it will give the play a feeling of ancient times. The scriptwriter will carry out research on the level of understanding the local people will have of ancient English so as to ascertain that the script matches this level. Although many plays of that era were sung and accompanied by dance, this play will be acted out with spoken word rather than songs. This is because speaking will ensure the audience hears the conversations as they go on and that they understand. This is ...
The plays that I enjoyed began with a clear introduction and ended in an appropriate place. The plays had an introduction that caught the eyes of the audience along with an interesting story line. Throughout the plays A Hopeless Dream, The Devils Are Here, and Four Stalls the audience was on bored with what was happening. The script was very organized. It was as if I was watching a movie, these performances had no mistakes, it was nearly perfect. In theses plays they began with an introduction that explained what was going on to the audience. The cast made me feel as though I was with them. They were not every dramatic. It seemed like they acted the way they would have if these situations actually happened to them. They did a great job of performing the content without making it seem like this was all made up. Once these plays were finished I wanted more, I wanted to know what was going to happen, especially in the play A Hopeless Dream. The lights went out at an appropriate time, but it made my friends and I want to see what would happen next, it was like a “to be continued” episode of The Vampire Diaries. I had the same feeling with the play The Devils Are Here. It was humorous and it caught my full attention, but once the lights went out I wanted the actors to continue acting because of how phenomenal the play
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
William Shakespeare's tragic play portraying the life in ancient Rome is one that closely follows many elements that make a drama interesting. The murders and the conspiracies behind the killings add to the plot of jealousy and patriotism. Within Julius Caesar also
the play is set in 1912. The main themes of the play are lies, love,
Morality plays like this one were the main teaching method of the time. They could reach out to many people and show them the “correct path” to take in life (Collins 880). The church used plays as a way to spread their message across great distances without having to go anywhere themselves. The church also was not the only group to use plays like this. Plays were also written for political and personal reasons, and largely used as propaganda (Symes 381). This effect was enhanced by the fact that any person could write a play and any person could act it out, from school teachers to political figureheads (Collins 882). These plays would eventually influence the playwrights of the Renaissance era who drew heavily from the pool of medieval examples (Symes 382).The many plays of the Middle Ages live on and influence entertainment even today.
reach into the ideas and themes of the play so we will have a good
her scripts, such as the mentioned pieces, and the way in which theatre is performed.
...o do plays, all these aspects form part of telling a story in a play, and they also form part of delivering a message to the audience, and such are things in which critics have focused their efforts on in order to evaluate plays. In The Phantom Lady, we can see themes advocated such as nobility, love and courtesy, we see brilliant stage effects such as lighting, costumes, setting and dialogue that aid in telling the story, and last but not least, we analyze the implications a story like this has on past times and can compare it to what would happen in modern times. Plays are made up of many different aspects such as these, and every aspect is vital to the performance and conveying of the play, because they are not as simple as people believe them to be, they are complex and intriguing to many people who are open minded.
represented in the play, too. In this term paper I will try to give a
This is how Shakespeare’s plays are a product of the Elizabethan theatrical context in which they were first performed.
Greek and Elizabethan theatre, while similar in some respects, had a few large differences. The Greeks believed in a certain unity of theme, which was prevalent throughout the production. Greek plays were often drawn from myth or of historical significance, so it seems that only ki...