Bouncers Contextualising the Play
John Godber was born the son of a miner in Upton, West Yorkshire in
1956. He became a very successful playwright with popular plays such
as ‘On the Piste’ and ‘Up n’ Under’ and TV shows like Grange Hill and
Brookside. He is known most for his comedy but he has shown in a
number of his productions that he includes seriousness alongside
comedy for optimum effect. His plays are performed all over the world
and have won many awards including five at the Edinburgh fringe
festival. However, for some, Bouncer’s is regarded as Godber’s finest
work. The inspiration of which came from a club called Kiko’s in
Pontefract- it had the added bonus of having fake palm trees on the
dance floor!
As a political play, we see Bouncers as being quite prominent in that
it was published whilst the famed ‘drinking culture’ of Britain was
being hyped up to an unprecedented level. Obviously, like nowadays,
the government wanted to stamp out what was a big problem. Godber’s
comedy in the play exposes a much more profound subject whilst also
showing the stereotypical nature of what the youth of the day did. In
the lads, the girls and the bouncers Godber tries to convey that these
characters are typical of Britain. He shows the funny side of the way
in which young people act whilst also unearthing a more sinister
subject in suggesting that drink is changing the nation. We see it in
all of the characters. For example, the lads were talking amongst
themselves very nicely before they go, however, once they leave, a
fight breaks out in the club when they have had a little too much to
drink. This is typical of the time and many people were actually
getting killed because of serious over drinking or get...
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...etting drunk regularly in the public
eye. Whilst we see people like these have an effect on teens today, in
Godber’s time he would have seen the beginning of the problems
snowball throughout his life. You can only address the problem like
Godber has done and bring it further into the limelight; you can’t
stop it with one play.
For me, the play is probably even more prominent today than for any
other generation beforehand. The problem has really come to a cross
roads at which we need to deal with it properly. As Godber shows in
the play, it is not really the fact that they get so drunk and out of
control, it is the fact that they go out there for the soul reason to
get really drunk. He shows us that in order to get rid of the problem,
you need to firstly address the way in which people think of alcohol
before seeing the next generations outlook’s change.
heavy control by a higher power in how they think, feel, and interact with others. Due to this
seemed to turn the play into a comedy at times: but some can say that
effect that drink had on him and is able to remain calm and formulate a plan of
control over their fate in which ends up in pleasurable experience. There is a degree of
two plays we can see that both are isolated in a world of their own,
I see for Thursday you have the county kickball league on field 4 at West MKE without Fields 1 and 2 being used, any chance you could switch them to fields 1 or 2? What was the length for the bases for kickball?
party when he drinks. Over a period of time he starts to remember things about his
had gotten into an argument with a girl whom he had asked to buy a drink for.
but at the lack of morality. The play includes most, if not all of the
He then starts thinking about how some of the group acted when they were drunk
adds to the comedy of the rest of play. It is obvious to the audience
I feel the purpose of the play is to show us how the social divide of
James Tyrone has a huge alcohol addiction, which also reflects on his two sons addiction to alcohol. In the novel, Eugene O’Neil states “He’d only spend it on drink and you know what a vile, poisonous tongue he has when he’s drunk…” (615). Basically, James drinking issue has gotten over control is affecting his wife. Mary strongly believes that he is ruining their marriage and the lives of their sons. James Jr. always spends his money on alcohol and uses it an escape from his parents because they are addicts. James Jr. blames his parents for his failure in life because of their bad parenting. Edmund in the other hand does not only have an alcohol addiction but also has a drug addiction because of his mother. He uses art to escape from his problems unlike any of his other family members. Edmund is basically the victim of this play but is the one who gets hurt the most due his parent’s addictions especially his dads. James Jr. and Edmund blame their father for their mother’s drug
focus, because then are purposely operating at the edges of their ability, so they are screw up.
Control: the control of the organization is based on the authority and power exercised to achieve the objectives of any organization.