In this part of the paper the analysis of the chosen plays by British authors are conducted. The primary focus of the analysis is to find traces of Brecht’s legacy. Arranged according to the plays’ release, Arden’s play is analyzed first.
3.1 Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden
Perhaps John Arden’s best known play, often regarded as a masterpiece (except at the time of the play’s publication and its initial reviews) was first produced in 1959 in London. Giving the direction for productions of the play, Arden puts emphasis on the importance of the setting which, as he writes, should not be redundant and only the props actually used in the play are supposed to be on stage in order to help the audience “see a selection from the details from …show more content…
The story and the message of it is the most important feature in Brecht’s plays and in Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance as well. The name of the town in which most of the action takes place is not given, as well as an exact date, all Arden gives away is that “the play is set in a mining town in the north of England eighty years ago. It is winter.” The play has a subtitle An-Unhistorical Parable. Therefore, taking no account of history, the play is simply a representation of human behavior and repercussions it brings. The moral of the story is what is important.
Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance tells a story of the Serjeant Musgrave and three soldiers – Attercliffe, Hurst and Sparky – who travel to the mining town in England in winter. Once they approach their destination they stay at the public-house run by Mrs. Hitchcock and her helper Annie. The town is in the middle of a coal-miners strike and so the arrival of the soldiers is understood as help to quell the rebellion. The authorities of the town speak to …show more content…
[…]
Your blood-red rose is withered and gone
And fallen on the floor:
And he who brought the apple down
Shall be my darling dear.
For the apple holds a seed will grow
In live and lengthy joy
To raise a flourishing tree of fruit
For ever and a day.
With fal-la-la-the-dee, toor-a-ley.
For ever and a day.
Brecht’s use of music in drama differs significantly from realistic drama, most importantly in its function in relation to the audience. Epic use of music functions as a means of distancing the audience from the action and is often sung directly to the audience, when the actors step out of their role and through the song comment on the events happening on stage. In Attercliffe’s last song, meant to be sung in a melancholic and quiet voice, he is delivering his last lines primarily to the audience, to all, as the last piece of a macabre message of what a pointless journey soldiers’ lives are.
Evident from the examples of the songs, play is written in old dated colloquial English, often harsh and realistically reflecting the difficult situations the soldiers find themselves in. Halfway through the Scene Three, Act Two, the discussion between the childish Sparky
3.1 Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden
Perhaps John Arden’s best known play, often regarded as a masterpiece (except at the time of the play’s publication and its initial reviews) was first produced in 1959 in London. Giving the direction for productions of the play, Arden puts emphasis on the importance of the setting which, as he writes, should not be redundant and only the props actually used in the play are supposed to be on stage in order to help the audience “see a selection from the details from …show more content…
The story and the message of it is the most important feature in Brecht’s plays and in Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance as well. The name of the town in which most of the action takes place is not given, as well as an exact date, all Arden gives away is that “the play is set in a mining town in the north of England eighty years ago. It is winter.” The play has a subtitle An-Unhistorical Parable. Therefore, taking no account of history, the play is simply a representation of human behavior and repercussions it brings. The moral of the story is what is important.
Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance tells a story of the Serjeant Musgrave and three soldiers – Attercliffe, Hurst and Sparky – who travel to the mining town in England in winter. Once they approach their destination they stay at the public-house run by Mrs. Hitchcock and her helper Annie. The town is in the middle of a coal-miners strike and so the arrival of the soldiers is understood as help to quell the rebellion. The authorities of the town speak to …show more content…
[…]
Your blood-red rose is withered and gone
And fallen on the floor:
And he who brought the apple down
Shall be my darling dear.
For the apple holds a seed will grow
In live and lengthy joy
To raise a flourishing tree of fruit
For ever and a day.
With fal-la-la-the-dee, toor-a-ley.
For ever and a day.
Brecht’s use of music in drama differs significantly from realistic drama, most importantly in its function in relation to the audience. Epic use of music functions as a means of distancing the audience from the action and is often sung directly to the audience, when the actors step out of their role and through the song comment on the events happening on stage. In Attercliffe’s last song, meant to be sung in a melancholic and quiet voice, he is delivering his last lines primarily to the audience, to all, as the last piece of a macabre message of what a pointless journey soldiers’ lives are.
Evident from the examples of the songs, play is written in old dated colloquial English, often harsh and realistically reflecting the difficult situations the soldiers find themselves in. Halfway through the Scene Three, Act Two, the discussion between the childish Sparky