Research into Alisons background

To play my character truthfully and realistically I have to do research into her life and what would have led her to their life she is living during the play. She originally came from a privileged higher class background with a wealthy family in higher class social groups, she would have a high status in her world and in any social group she finds herself in. She is quickly detached from this world when she meets Jimmy who takes her away to live a lower class lifestyle doing tasks such as dishes and ironing which she wouldn't be accustomed to doing. This is highlighted when she says "I never know what you do with burns" this supports the idea that she is inexperienced and isn't accustomed to these mundane tasks. As Alison would have gone to a private/public schools which would have been an all-girls school, Alison wouldn't be widely exposed to boys never mind boys like Jimmy who when introduced to her world flips it upside down by upsetting the people around her. She would most likely see Jimmy as a bad boy and would be drawn to him through this fact. Jimmy is a massive influence on Alison’s loss of innocence as he basically rips her from security and money and drops her in a world facing post world war economics. All of this would completely affect Alison’s life as she did a theoretical you turn and moved her down into a worse and more difficult life, full of abuse and struggle. After looking up what private/public schools where like in the late 50s, schools were very different then due to there being a higher level of respect for teachers compared to schooling today, the education system was a lot more strict and brought children up to a social standard of which was social accepted by the higher class. This shows me that Alison would be prim and proper sitting up straight and would have excellent manners which would have been diminished by the influence of Jimmy and lower class people around her. I can apply all of this to my character through altering physicality and speech through using diction and speaking in a respectful manner. Also this will affect the way I sit and the way I dress as she would have been raised to wear conservative clothes and look respectable at all times in my opinion.