Context of the play

Introduction

We have studied the practitioner Michael Chekhov, who believed that every play is dependent on the whole ensemble of actors working together. He also stated that a production is more likely to be a success if every actor knows the play as a whole, and the context in which they are acting - there is no point if the actors just know their character, they need to know the world of the play and all of the other character's relationships in order for the audience to believe and invest  themselves in the play. I agree with this completely and understand the importance of it for creating a coherent and fluid performance and am therefore going to fully explore the context of the play and the different contexts within the play. This is perhaps more important in Table than any other play due to the complex  frequency of the settings within the play. Although I am sharing my part with Hannah and will not do half of the scenes Sarah is in, it is crucial for me to know what happens to Sarah in these scenes to inform my understanding of her as a character.

Context within the play

Below is a breakdown of the three different parts of the play and the dates and locations of all the scenes. The red ones are scenes that feature my character, Sarah, and the number is how old she is.

Part 1

2013 - London

1898 - Lichfield

2013 - London

1906 - Lichfield

1916-1918 - Lichfield

1928 - Lichfield, 8

1933 - Lichfield, 13

Part 2

1950 - Tanganyika, 30

1946 - Lichfield, 26

1950 - Tanganyika, 30

2013 - London

1950  - Tanganyika, 30

Interval 

1951 - 1957 - Tanganyika, 31 - 37

1957 - Tanganyika, 37

Part 3

2013 - London

1964 - Herefordshire, 44

1964 - Herefordshire, 44

1970 - Herefordshire, 49

1971 - Herefordshire, 50

1971 - Herefordshire, 50

1928 - Lichfield, 8

1981 - Herefordshire

1981-2013 - London, an ancestor

2013 - London

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Rehearsal task

Our director divided the years visited in the play into three broad time periods which we had to do research on in groups and then present to the whole cast to develop understanding of the play as a whole. Below is the information I collated from the presentations.

1898 - 1946

Within our group I was given the 1920's and did extensive research on this time period;

Social/Cultural

1. All over the world there were post-war societies, particularly across Europe which was something never experienced before on this mass scale
2. There was a ‘carpe-diem’ attitude as every person in Britain knew someone who had died in the war and it had inspired them to live for today without worrying about the future
3. The social class that felt this prosperity the most was the aristocracy and upper classes
4. More people lived in suburbs due to electric railways and cars being used on mass
5. The first nightclubs, jazz clubs and cocktail bars were established all over British cities and were enjoyed by a generation who had been too young to fight in the war themselves 
6. Jazz music from North America was very popular in the UK
7.  Children’s toys of the era were ‘whip-and-top’ and skipping
8. Comics were read on mass for the first time
9. Not much changed for married women or older women and many protested against the shocking flapper movement
10.  BBC was founded
11. Contraception was invented and used on mass; people became much more sexually liberated and women moved away from the stereotypical ‘stay at home mums’ role
12. Smaller families because of contraception, meaning money was spread out between less people, generating more disposable income
13. ‘Flapper’ movement mainly in America, but felt in the UK too – for younger, unmarried women dresses became shorter, as did hair and women were able to smoke, drink, take drugs and drive

Economic

1. Throughout the war suppliers and manufacturers had more pressure put on them to supply the demand of war-torn Europe and as a result, prospered throughout the 1920s
2. Suburbanisation occurred and the suburbs grew like never before, particularly with skyscrapers. The landscape was altered, never to go back to how it was again.
3.  Production line method meant more unskilled people had jobs than ever before
4.  By 1926 unemployment had risen to over 2 million
5. Wall Street Crash in 1929, although in America, influenced the global stock market and kicked off the period of economic depression that plagued the 1930s
6. Most of the 1920s was economic deflation and decline for the UK
7. Women had been mass employed throughout the war and had new-found independence in the ‘20s

Historical

1. For Britain the first world war had ended in victory – morale was high
2. All women over the age of 21 were granted the vote in 1928 after the Suffrage movement
3.   In 1921 there was a population of just under 12 million people in London
4. First commercial radio broadcast
5.   Insulin is mass produced for the treatment of diabetes
6. League of Nations was founded (before United Nations)
7.  Women at Oxford University are allowed to receive degrees

Political

1. 1921 – Education Act raised school leaving age to 14. Schooling was now free for all children from 5 – 14 and school times were 9am – 4:30pm for all children
2. In 1925 the Gold Standard law meant that is was expensive for British goods to be sold internationally and interest rates were high, so slowly trading fell
3.  By the late twenties most of the post-war prosperity had worn off because of Churchill’s Tory rule
4. Great Strike of 1926
5.  It  became legal for women to divorce men, which had never been allowed before
6. In 1922 the Conservatives were in parliament
7.  Ramsay McDonald became the first Labour prime minister in 1929

The Play

1.  In the play, the only location we visit in the 1920s is Lichfield
2. 1928 is the only year out of the 1920s that the play is set in
3.  Lichfield is in the Midlands and the north east was hardest hit by the Great Depression
4. Main industry in the 1920s in this area was coal mining.

Sources:

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-1920s-in-Britain/

http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1920timeline.htm

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1920s.html

1950 - 1971

Tanganyika:

• The play is set in Tanganyika from 1950 - 1957.
• It is specifically set in a convent where Sarah moves to as a missionary nun.
• Tanganyika was a UN Trust territory under British control until 1961.
• Due to development of travel, it was not unusual for British people to be in Africa during these years, particularly in colonial states. That explains why Sarah, Jack Holman and many of the nuns are from Britain. There was a very mixed community in Tanganyika at this time.
• Tanganyika and Zanzibar formed modern day Tanzania.
• Due to the very diverse wildlife, lots of hunters operated there at this time when there were no restrictions on hunting - Jack Holman's character.
• There is a very hot climate there.
• It is located between Kenya and Malawi.

Herefordshire:

• The play is set in Herefordshire from 1964 - 1981
• It is specifically set in a hippy commune where Sarah moves with Gideon after she gets kicked out of the convent by Mother Superior. 
• Throughout the 1950s, due to mass immigration, British culture became much more diverse.
• Hippy communes were common and every commune was different. Some were religious, some were business-like - there was something that appealed to everyone who wanted a different way of life to the norm.
• Music and lifestlye affected the hippy commune - there were more liberated people, dancing and free environment.
• Typical fashion of the time for people living in communes was long hair, psychedelic colours, tie-dye, flared trousers, platform heels, make-up on men and women.

Religion:

• Anglican Church of England was the dominant religion at this time.
• Religion was becoming less and less popular in the UK, with only 26% of the population believing in God.
• There was a huge decline in people attending churches which lead to the 'Crisis of the Church' period of the 1970s.
• New scientific discoveries led to the decline of religious believers.
• Sarah moved away from faith, at the most extreme end - being a nun to being in a hippy commune and there being no evidence to suggest that she believes in God at all.

Other information:

• Labour won the election in 1964 - Harold Wilson
• Comprehensive schools were introduced for the first time
• Abortion was legalised in 1961.
• In 1963 there were huge campaigns for gay rights, leading to homosexuality being legalised.
• Anthony, a homosexual character in the play, was born in 1971 - just after homosexuality was legalised, so he would have grown up in a society that was much more accepting of gay people than the generation before.
• Drugs were available on mass and were legal, so a lot of people used LSD as an escape but ended up hospitalised because of the harm it did to their bodies.
• Psychedelic art was staple of this time.
• Mass migration happened from the 1950s - 1970s; especially Sikhs and Hindus from the Punjab. 
• There was a huge sexual revolution in the 1960s. 
• Contraception was cheaper than ever before, and contraception and public nudity were normalised.
• Stars of the time were Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, The Beach Boys, Beatles, Beejees, Diana Ross and Slade. 
• Many sub-cultures emerged in this time period - punk rock, hippy movement, hipster era.

1981 - 2013

1980s;

• The play only visits here in 1981 in Herefordshire, back at the hippy commune.
• Margaret Thatcher was the first female prime minister from 1979 - 1990.
• England faced a counter-revolution after the 1980s.
• Violence and rebellion soared, as did mistrust of the police.
• Synthesisers and new technology were used in music.
• 1984 - 5 there were huge Miner's strikes in the north of England.
• Race riots between communities - inner city deprivation especially in Brixton, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool.
• First space shuttle was sent to space in 1981.
• 27% decline in Church attendance within both Catholicism and Protestantism.
• Madonna was a huge pop icon in this decade.
• Severe recession in 1981 - unemployment soared by 3 million and continued to rise throughout the 1980s.
• End of post-war socities.

1990s;

• The play skips out this decade
• Rise of multi-culturalism, rave scene
• Cable television and world wide web invented
• Increased acceptance of being gay (Anthony and Ben would have grown up in this society)
• Rapid economic growth - Britain's economy did really well in the 1990s
• Princess Diana was killed in 1997
• Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1997 - first living thing to be cloned; surrogacy was more socially acceptable. (Links to Ben and Anthony being able to have Su-Lin)

2000s and 2010s;

• Play is only here in 2013
• In the real world, during the 2000s the last person to be born in the 1800s died - links to where the play begins and where the play ends - the entire span of the family history.
• Same sex marriage was legalised in 2013, meaning that Ben and Anthony could get married after the play ends.
• Modern technology soared from 2000 - 2013, and this is replicated in the play as Su-Lin is the only character who has electronic music that is not sung.
• Gays and lesbians were allowed to have surrogacy during this time period - how Su-Lin is born.

Key events from these two decades:

• The turn of the millennium
• 9/11 bombings
• Facebook and YouTube were invented
• Credit crunch and global mass recession in 2008
• Hung parliament in 2010
• London Olympics in 2012
• Same sex marriage legalised in Britain in 2013
• 3 prime ministers, two Labour, one Conservative - Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron
• Selfies and the internet became popular
• Global internet trends such as memes and gifs
• Gays and lesbians were allowed to have surrogacy during this time period

Context of the play

The play was written in 2013 and was the first play to be performed in the National Theatre's 'Temporary Theatre'. Below are two videos I found with information about the play. It is so helpful for it to have been performed at such a high profile venue. I have learnt a lot about its original production value. It will be interesting to see how the play turns out and how similar our production is to the original. It is interesting to be able to hear the writer, director and the actors viewpoints of the play and is a great resource that we have being in Table over the other plays.

Context of the writer

Tanya Ronder trained at RADA and worked as an actress for 14 years. From this I can tell that she must understand acting to a great degree and this will be clear through her writing - being an actress herself she must know the capabilities of actors. 

She has written for very high profile companies such as the RSC, The National and has adapted many other texts in the past. Being so well established in the industry is a brilliant foundation for us to work on and her years of experience show through the quality of the writing; the subtle humour and dramatic essence.