Willy Russells Our Day Out Essay -- Willy Russell Our Day Out Essays

Willy Russells Our twenty-four hours OutWilly Russell has indite many plays over the last thirty historic period, besidesthere is matchless feature that is common to all of them the issue ofsocial and cultural background. This is the part of thecharacters their surroundings their class the society in which theyare brought up, and the culture of that society. It is this that gitlead to the behaviour, feelings, opinions and general outlook of thecharacters. Russell explores the effects that society and culture ignorehave on people in all his plays, but in none is it so poignant as inOur Day Out, the recital of what happens when Mrs Kay takes herProgress class out of inner-city Liverpool on a school bumble to ConwyCastle, Wales.Throughout Our Day Out the issue of social and cultural backgroundis ever-present, but it is discussed and conveyed in many differentforms the colloquial dialect Russell uses the symbolism that is feature the behaviour and attitudes of the children the way thatpeople react to these children, and the insights we get into theirfamily lives.Willy Russell himself said that he writes for the theatre becauseits concerned with the spoken rather than the written word. In OurDay Out we see the importance of the spoken word through the quarrelthat the children use. Having magnanimous up and taught at a Comprehensiveschool in Liverpool, Russell k straights the Liverpudlian dialect perfectly,and he uses his knowledge to give a truly part feel to theplay. The children use address such as aghey, ooer, and nottn,and the authentic language that the children use help to make the playfeel more real. Because Russell writes the words as they would bespoken in a Liverpudlian acce... ...ry isnt. The commiseration and intensity of the play is somewhatmasked in places by the comedy, but we do catch glimpses of thehopeless, desperate situation these children are facing. As Mrs Kaysays, Ten years ago you could teach them to stand in a line, youcould teach them to obey, to tolerate little more than a lousy manufactoryjob. But now they havent even got that to aim for. Theres nothing forthem to do, any of them most of them were born for factory fodder,but the factories have closed down. Throughout the play this is theunderlying tone, and the cunning way that Russell conveys this messageheightens the effect when it comes. This day out is simply an harborone day of fun out of their whole lives, and at the give the sack of it we seehow the glimmer of something bright and beautiful makes it all theharder to turn your look back to the grey and mundane.