Bits and Pieces To add herbs and spices

Bits and Pieces To add herbs and spices to your Inheritance essays

Stagecraft Rayson uses several dramatic conventions in her play, Inheritance: • Actors addressing the Audience directly. – In Act 1 Scene 1 (pg 4) Felix addresses the audience directly. • Felix: (addressing the audience) This is my mother, Julia • Julia: (addressing the audience) Hi • Act 1 Scene 2 (pg 5) uses the same convention to introduce Girlie and Dibs. – This technique allows important narrative to be told in an effective way. – The audience can’t help but acknowledge the, ‘Hi’ by Julia and we are directly involved in the introductions of the characters and therefore the unfolding story.

Narrative Structure Centered on a family reunion. • This forms the narrative centrepiece from which all tension is derived and revolves First Act • Establishes context and relationships, ends with a crisis Second Act • Maureen’s ascension, Farley’s funeral and the breaking of the family

Narrative Structure Prologue and Epilogue • Rayson ‘bookends’ the play with a prologue and epilogue. How are these different? Non-Linear Narrative Structure • Jumps from past to present to future. It’s only through dramatic convention that this is possible. • Highlights similarities and links between generations of characters. Short-faced paced scenes • Adds a film-like quality to the action. • Quotations and ideas often linked between scenes

Flashbacks • This is a technique often used to bring back characters from the past. • This technique provides important narrative and links the past to the present. • Illustrates the repetition of events (cyclical continuity between generations of characters) • Some characters exist complete within flashbacks: – Young/Old Dibs and Girlie – Norm Myrtle – Lucky Joe Delaney

The Use of Humour • Act 2 Sc. 3 Pg 66: ‘What’s with all the Nobbys and Dongers’ • Act 1 Sc 16 Pg 26: Norm’s monologue about killing the chook. • Act 1 Sc. 5 Pg 8: Rolled up newspapers. Rayson appeals to the ‘Aussie larrikin’ in us all to imagine find humour in these stories. She appeals to our ‘political incorrectness’ to find humour in the politically incorrect associations of ‘wogs’ and ‘pooftas’ through the interactions of the characters.

Use of Music/Sound • The Prologue has the song, ‘Two Little Girls in Blue’ – this song foreshadows the plot. • Act 1 Scene 20 (p. 34 -35) A church choir swells, the music dissonant and unhinged. • Rayson uses songs to provide important narrative, but also to create mood and atmosphere. The dramatic ending to Act 1 Scene 20 is heightened by the melody of the Christmas carols. • ‘Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven’ – Act 2 Scenes 7&8 are linked by this chorus. • ‘Harbour Lights’ Act 2 Sc 3. • ‘Lend a Hand’ – Maureen’s rousing campaign song. ‘Send out a Warning, there’s trouble in the land’.

Symbolism Sitting on the fence • Nugget is shown to us ‘sitting on the fence’. • Representative of him sitting between two worlds – his adopted/father’s white family on the farm, and his mother’s indigenous heritage – but not belonging (standing) in either.

Symbolism Pigeons • Act 1 Sc 16 • Represents the other side of Lyle: gentle and loving (as opposed to the violent Lyle with the whip, etc. ) • Also symbolic of a connection with/returning to the land (the pigeons always return to the farm – it’s where they belong) • Connection between generations: Norm, Lyle and Brianna.

Symbolism Coin toss • Act 1 Sc 26 • Symbolises the role of fate in the lives of the characters. • Represents ‘destiny’ vs. ‘duty’ for Girlie and Dibs.

Symbolism Farley’s Hat • Picked up by Nugget (Act 2 Sc 13) and Farley appears. • Symbolises the connection between father and son.

Symbolism The Stolen Generation • • Represented through Nugget’s story. The loss of his Mother and being taken in by Farley and Dib’s (the most Christian people you’re ever likely to meet - Act 1 Sc. 22). ‘Christian’ justifications were often used to justify the stolen generation. Felix’s ‘sorry’ tshirt (Act 1 Sc. 23). Nugget can be seen a metaphor of the stolen generation – ‘a farmer without a farm’. In the epilogue we see Nugget ‘displaced’ in the city. He has lost his parents, his farm, his land.

Symbolism Christmas • Can be a time of great distress for a family, particularly one experiencing hardship or conflict. • Norm hangs himself at Christmas. • The ‘Father Christmas’ suit is hidden in a suitcase and never to be spoken about.

Clashes and Conflicts • Geography – City vs. Country • Age – Old vs. Young • Class – Rich vs. Poor • Religion – Irish Catholic vs. Presbyterian; Christian vs. Muslim • Race – European/Anglo-Australian, Aboriginal, Multi-cultural • Aspirations – Duty vs. Freedom • Gender – Traditional male vs. female roles • Sexual Orientation – Homosexual vs. Heteronormative

Clashes and Conflicts Many of the tensions and prejudices in the play, particularly from the inhabitants of Rushton (but also present in others), are driven by anything seen as a deviation from the ‘normal’. Difference causes someone to be an outsider and unworthy of trust. Difference easily becomes equated with deviancy. The characters who particularly fall victim to this are: • Nugget • William • Felix