A Comparison of the Performance of Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn

517 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare and contrast Shakespeare' s tragedies

A Comparison of the Performance of Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn

We performed Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn on 28th November 2002. Since

it is divided into five short plays which all relate to each other,

separate groups performed different plays, or scenes. My group used

the scene "A Talk in the Park" as our performance piece. I will be

comparing this scene to "A View from the Bridge", written by Arthur

Miller, and the television soap "Eastenders". "A Talk in the Park"

illustrates the comedy of human behaviour as well as making the

audience aware of the underlying tones of loneliness and isolation,

where the protagonists, five contrasting characters sitting on

separate benches, give vent to their innermost feelings. The irony of

this is that they are willing to confide in a perfect stranger but are

not themselves prepared to listen. It was written in the 1970's.

"A View from the Bridge", written in 1955 and set in 1950's Brooklyn,

tells the story of Eddie Carbone, who agrees to shelter his wife's

cousins, Rodolpho and Mar...

Show More
Related

  • Reaching Understanding through Non-Verbal Communication in Timothy Findley’s “War” and “About Effie”

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    The two stories “War” and “About Effie” from Timothy Findley’s Dinner Along the Amazon are both told by the same child narrator, Neil. In each of the stories Neil attempts to make sense of a mystery of the adult world. In “War” Neil tries to understand the adult world of war, and explain why it seems that his father has betrayed him, and in “About Effie” Neil tries to understand the mystery of Effie’s strange need to wait for a man in a thunderstorm. Neil reaches an understanding of each of these mysteries in a similar way: through observation of non-verbal clues from adults. However, Neil’s own attempts to communicate non-verbally through his behaviour are unsuccessful. Taken as a whole, these two stories show how very important non-verbal communication is in child-adult relationships.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Anne Lamott's Shitty First Drafts

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her article “Shitty First Drafts,” Anne Lamott creates an argument attempting to prove to her readers that every good writer begins with a “shitty” first draft. This is a very bold claim to make about writers, and obviously should have some solid evidence to back it up. However, contrary to what one might think, Lamott has little to no “real” evidence to support her statements. Instead, she uses humor and sarcasm to cover the fact that she has no real support for her views. By doing this, Lamott lacks much of the credibility (usually) needed in a rhetorical argument, and her humorous tone does not suffice for a convincing argument. Even though Lamott incorporates a great deal of sarcasm and absurdity in her work, she lacks the most important

    Read More

  • Alan Ayckbourn’s Concerns in Gosforth’s Fete and How He Achieves Them

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    are meant to present a show at the fete. The play uses comedy as its

    Read More

  • Reading and Thought by Dwight MacDonald

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article “Reading and Thought” the author Dwight MacDonald provides criticism and disagreement with Henry Luce’s idea of “functional curiosity”. Luce developed the term “functional curiosity” defining it as an eagerness of people to know the latest news happening around the world. On the other hand, MacDonald concludes that functional curiosity only strengthens reader’s practice in reading rather than in providing invaluable information. He underlines that literature nowadays is deficient and insubstantial since there is no deep meaning in the texts. Modern printed literature is simply being skimmed through by the reader as the reader nowadays tends to avoid too much information resisting thinking in such a way. Because of the new nature of the printed materials, MacDonald considers today’s reading behavior and the way people think as flimsy and indifferent. I agree that our thought has definitively changed since we are paying less time to serious critical thinking losing connections with society and awareness of it.

    Read More

  • Symbolic Reasoning In 'Minnie Wright By Susan Glaspell'

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    In a play, the audience should be intrigued and ready for what is to come next. It is a play that works by understanding. It has the audience on their seat to make them be part of the play. Susan Glaspell wrote a play based on an actual murder. “In the process of completing research for a biography of Susan Glaspell, [she] discovered the historical source upon which Trifles ...Glaspell covered the case and the subsequent trial when she was a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News”(Ben-Zvi 143). In the early nineteen-hundreds women were seen as weak. They were females knew the understanding of every clue that was leading to the case and the reasoning behind it.

    Read More

  • Understanding and Using Language by Birk and Birk

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Birk and Birk explore the many processes that automatically and often unintentionally, take place during the gathering of knowledge and expression through words. In their book Birk and Birk break the usage of words into sections: Selection, Slanting by the use of emphasis, slanting by selection of facts, and slanting by the use of charged words. When words are used this way they reveal naturally occurring bias of the writer. Upon reviewing the selection from Birk and Birk’s book Understanding and Using Language it is clear that the essay written by Jake Jameson has examples of every principal Birk and Birk discuss. The Birk and Birk selection provides us with a set of tools that enable us to detect bias in the many forms that it takes. These tools reveal what Jamieson favors and make plain the bias present in his essay The English-Only movement: Can America Proscribe Language With a Clean Conscience?

    Read More

  • A Loss for Words Book Review

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout A Loss for Words, Lou Ann discusses the impact of having deaf parents played in her and her sister’s childhood. Some examples include, being an interpreter and a guide for her parents while she was growing up, causing her to more of an adult rather than being a child (Walker, 1986, p. 2). Lou Ann never minded though she loved to feel important and to help her parents, along with her two sisters, with their business affairs. It was not always easy though Lou Ann says that, “in a few instances I was an unfaithful go-between,” for instance, “the garage mechanic who refused to serve them because [her parents] were deaf” (Walker, 1986, p. 21). As children of deaf parents, Lou Ann and her sister were apart of the deaf culture, but they were also the connection to the hearing world as well. Her parents would often look to her for clues in different situations such as a thunderstorm, someone walking into a room, etc., but they never tried to place any pressure on her it simply came naturally to Lou Ann to help her parents because they relied on her. If I were Lou Ann I probably would have done the same thing, no one should feel helpless and have no one that can help them accomplish tasks that need to be done.

    Read More

  • Awakening to the World of Posibilities in Charles Baxter's Gryphon

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charles Baxter's short stories are well-known for the strong presents of ordinary people encountering extraordinary strangers who disturb their lives. “Gryphon” written by Charles Baxter is not an exception. The story is filled with characters that are awaken from their boring lives and transported into a world of possibilities. As a central idea of the story, Baxter's critics often mention “middle America's” conventions, and the effect it has on anyone who does not fit the mold. Within “Gryphon” the reader experiences a few days in the life of fourth grade class; specifically, a few days spent with a unique substitute teacher. The narrative outlines, on many occasions, the unsureness in the face of the unknown. Is the society ready to accept someone who deviates from the limits of the norm?

    Read More

  • To Build A Fire, By Jack London

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people say that cats have 9 lives. On the other hand, humans only have 1 life. Would you waste it on something that you could have prevented? In the short story “To Build A Fire” by Jack London a man made the decision to travel alone in -50 weather even though he was told not to by an old timer. As he made his journey through the Yukon he struggled to survive and made various mistakes that at the end would cost him his life.Some of these mistakes were; going out alone, falling in an ice trap, and making a fire under a tree.

    Read More

  • Nonsense Is Defined by Its Inability to be Defined Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear's Alice in Wonderland

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    The definition of nonsense has been debated throughout literature. Yet nonsense itself cannot be defined, but rather it is defined by its inability to be defined. It’s the destruction or defiance of the norm that often leads to creation of nonsense. The language of nonsense itself is closely intertwined with various techniques of style, structuralization and various motifs. Authors such as Lewis Caroll in Alice and Wonderland and Edward Lear’s The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear use such techniques to invoke the language of nonsense as well as to create nonsense within their writing. Both Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear use the language of nonsense is also defined by paradoxes, the play on stereotypes, and the usage of polysemy.

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye, Macbeth And Death Of A Salesman Comparison Essay

    1858 Words  | 4 Pages

    In literature, characters often confront challenges and due to their misconceptions of reality these challenges become complicated by external factors, which ultimately lead to tragic results. Willy, from the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Holden, from the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Macbeth, from the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, live with false perceptions of life and struggle through life's challenges. Willy struggles with the challenges of his life by lying, causing him to suffer because of how he defines success. Holden is upset with the world and tries to become a savior to future generations. While Macbeth's ambitions dominates his life resulting in an inflated ego transforming him from an honorable soldier into a crazed tyrant. When faced with challenges, these characters fight to be who they imagine they are, yet due to conflicts they ultimately fail.

    Read More

  • Communication In A Note On A Marriage

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Communication is a vital component of everyday relationships in all of mankind. In plays, there are many usual staging and dialogue techniques that directors use to achieve the attention of the audience. However, in the play, “Post-its (Notes on a Marriage)”, the authors Paul Dooley and Winnie Holzman use both staging and conversation in order to convey the struggles of modern relationships. The play is unconventional in how it attempts to have the audience react in a unique way. The authors use staging and conversation to portray to the audience that there are complex problems with communication in modern relationships.

    Read More

  • The Conundrum Sparknotes

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Book Report: The Conundrum by David Owen Efficiency is not always the answer, according to David Owen, in his novel The Conundrum, explains that society is headed in the wrong direction, believing that to be greener we need to make our everyday lives more efficient when in reality we need to change our behavior. As consumers, people want to be sustainable and preserve the Earth while greedily expanding our collection of trinkets. Efficiency can be beneficial, but to make the world a greener one, it is essential for people to change their behavior, not efficiency of the products. The Conundrum describes how in modern times we have come a long way in increasing the efficiencies of cars, air conditioners, trains, airplanes, energy resources, or

    Read More

  • Bleikasten’s Literary Analysis of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    By focusing on the figure of Caddy, Bleikasten’s essay works to understand the ambiguous nature of modern literature, Faulkner’s personal interest in Caddy, and the role she plays as a fictional character in relation to both her fictional brothers and her actual readers. To Bleikasten, Caddy seems to function on multiple levels: as a desired creation; as a fulfillment of what was lacking in Faulkner’s life; and/or as a thematic, dichotomous absence/presence.

    Read More

  • Lewis Carroll Writing Effects

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lewis Carroll’s life as a writer and as a person can be described to some people as secretive or peculiar. He was born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England in 1832 under the name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. All the books that he published was wrote with the pen name of Lewis Carroll. Being a mathematician, photographer, and novelist, he was a much respected man in England. At an early age he excelled in mathematics and went to college at Christ College. Even though he was a prestige mathematician, Lewis Carroll in known for his nonsense style of writing. Critics have tried to guess of reasons why this style was plagued with Lewis’s writing but none are guaranteed true. On the other hand, some

    Read More

More about A Comparison of the Performance of Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn

Open Document