The plays themes

   One major theme in this play is loss of childhood, this impacts the characters of Alison and Jimmy. Osborn Makes this very clear through Jimmy's farther dying when he was only ten, and how he had to watch his dad both physically and mentally break as a man, this highlights how Jimmy has had to cope with death and a family breakdown from very young age, only for this to be repeated this in his present life. Alison's loss of childhood is very common as to how she was forced to grow up before her time through marrying Jimmy at a young age and losing a child under the mental abuse of which her husband bestowed upon her daily, breaking her spirit and causing her to lose her youth and lust for life. This will be a very important aspect for me to portray when playing Alison, as I will have to emit a sense of loss and pain whilst being real and believable. In my scene the monologue in which Alison highlights her anger and sadness over the loss of her child and her husband displays this theme massively as not only has Alison been forced to grow up and face difficult reality at a young age, her lost child has literally lost its childhood. Osborn symbolises a socially common loss of youth through making reference to the war and the fall of the British Empire.    Due to Jimmy's anger towards the people around him I would like to make reference to his need for a so called "real life." I see that the character of Jimmy uses anger to covey his emotions, in the 60's  men were extremely masculine and a man like Jimmy wouldn't be too sparing with his emotions, this is why he compensates with anger firstly towards trivial things he finds in the newspaper and then progressing to the people around him as the scene moves on, this is shown in my scene through him saying "is your friend still with you?2 this is a very passive aggressive comment with the intent to make Alison feel unwanted and worthless. I can use this when developing my character of Alison as when he enters the scene I will have to channel and awkward unease around Jimmy and I will feel his anger and resentment towards my character. Jimmy is a very judgemental character and has a large longing for a lustrous life and blames his lack of joy on the "slothfulness of the world" around him, this suggests that he thinks that everything around him is boring and not meeting his standards as a human being. Ironically this slothfulness is strongly highlighted in the character of Jimmy who is seen perched in his chair surrounded by scattered newspaper having connotations with his laziness in life; this is also shown through his lack of effort in his relationship with Alison. Osborn added this to his work to suggest that Britain was lazy and this was the primary cause for its problems in the time. Masculinity is a large aspect of the play and is highlighted throughout, Osborn shows clearly the view on women in the time through the troubled and abusive relationship she has with her husband, this highlights the lack of respect which most women had in those days and emphasises Jimmy s horridness as he proceeds to call her and abuse her openly in front of his friend Cliff. Jimmy's character is juxtaposed by the character of Cliff who is kind and sweet to Alison, this is Quickly put aside by Jimmy and cements his confidence in the knowledge that Alison will never leave him as it wasn't a woman's prerogative to take charge in the 60's, this is fundamental to supporting and emphasising her defiance towards Jimmy when she leaves him with full knowledge that she will have to raise a child alone, I know that I won’t have to portray this aspect in my scene as I am returning to my old home but I will have to have this new found confidence within me, knowing that I have the ability to stand up to Jimmy as I have done it before. A universal theme which is shown through the play is love which is a relevant today as it was in the 50's. Love is still used as a theme in almost all modern theatre and will carry on through far into the future. As this is a strong theme I as a character will always have to have a sense of love in things that she does as her love interest is Jimmy who she spend the majority of the play with. I know I will have to fine a happy medium with all of these themes as a character as a theme such as love can’t fully construct my character as it wouldn't be realistic to the situation due to the way she is treated and how she would respond to that, it wouldn't be in a loving way.       I do think most of this information would have been extremely relevant when first written and performed but I think now it's outdated and wouldn't be emotionally excepted by a modern audience as it wouldn't have much of a connection with problems of today's society. The difference between the issues of the 60's and modern life today is quite significant due to women becoming more self-reliant through working and there not being as many social views on how women should act, obviously there is still some people who believe that women should stay at home and look after children and cater to their husbands needs but this is a minute percentage of society and these people are seen as socially nostalgic living the life they are comfortable in due to the society they were raised in. There are themes which stand today such as social class which is still present today just not as prominent as it’s not as selective and separate as it once was.