“Piano”, “Half past two”, “My parents kept me from children who were rough”

The first of two plays that has been considered for selection in upcoming International Theatre for Young People’s Festival soon to be held in Vancouver, Canada is “Blackrock” by the late Nick Enright. The plays must represent the values, attitudes and beliefs of today’s Australian Youth Culture. “Blackrock” explores the strength of mateship, the importance of image and the dangers of peer pressure, parties and underage drinking. The second play is the popular “Blurred” by the playwright Stephen Davis; which offers a comedic and clever representation of perhaps the most famous Australian youth orientated rite of passage, “Schoolies”. Both of these plays portray representations of the highest calibre of Australian youth culture. Both initially play to Australian stereotypes and colloquialism but as interrelationships develop audiences are invited to gain insight into the youth culture and the society which they represent.

The thematic relevance, human context, dramatic form and language of the plays contents relates directly to the Festivals rationale and are unique to Australia. The rationale of the Festival is in place to allow young people to explore their own ideas and experiences within the world that they live and give the opportunity to explore and dramatize larger issues of justice and injustice which they as youth may often feel powerless to influence, and to allow youth to expand their horizons – to move beyond their won experience of the world and to inhabit different personae and different societies.

“Blackrock” is a play based in a coastal town and is based on events prior to and immediately following the violent murder of the character, Tracy Warner. This occurrence pushes relationships to their limits and raises issues of injustice. The theme of “Blackrock” offers insight into the Australian ‘Surfie’ culture whereby all characters are in someway affiliated with surfing or the beach. Teenage rebellion against societal norms and conformity is also apparent. It can be seen in the play that as a result of these rebellious actions, the careless acts undertaken whilst under the influence of alcohol can have devastating consequences. Blackrock also raises the issue of to what extent do you back up your mate? How strong is the concept of mateship? Also the importance of image, image is something individual youth pride themselves on, to have an image that entails popularity and to be relatively well liked is a high priority for many teenagers around the globe.

The types of characters involved in “Blackrock” unfortunately don’t give a true representation of all Australian youth; as they lack ambition and goals and show little to no respect to their elders, parents or the authorities. The male youths also seem somewhat apathetic in relation to life and living in relation to the murder of Tracey Warner. However Blackrock does offer a true representation of mateship and how one would act under immense pressure. The world believes, due to the fact that the media have depicted, that Australia’s regardless of age share the trait of grace under pressure, Enright sheds new light on this stereotypically Australian trait through dramatic form, language and human context keeping in the theme of realism.

The relationship between Jared and Ricko explores in great depth the theme of mateship. In doing so the interrelationship formed invites international audiences to view what this aspect of Australian Youth Culture is inherit of. As the play develops, audiences become aware of the fact that it was indeed Ricko that in a fit of rage murdered Tracey Warner, then turns to his best mate for help. Ricko asks what many may view as unfair, for Jared to lie to the authorities. Unbeknownst to Ricko, Jared witnessed the murder in all its bloody veracity. Jared is then faced with the moral dilemma of sticking by his mate, and conceding to audiences that mateship is a powerful force apparent in Australian Youth Culture, or turn to the authorities and do not only himself justice but also the murdered Tracy Warner.

“…You get over there now. You tell them what we said…You were with your mate…Day I met you, down the half-pipe, blood running out of here [forehead]; I piled you into spiders van…Get in the van I said. Now you get in the van. Your turn to look after me.” (P56 – 7)

This illustrates not only what type of character Ricko is but also the way in which he interacts with other characters in Blackrock. He uses foul language such as:

“You are, man, you fucken are” (p57)

The language used in Blackrock depicts the Surfie sub-culture that resides within Australian Youth Culture. A prime example of how Enright has utilized language to appeal to the targeted group, teens, was one of Toby’s initial lines. Toby is a close friend of Jared and also sister of Jared’s girlfriend Rachel:

“I’ll put on a keg-show down the surf club” (P3)

Enright also exploits Australian colloquialisms to reiterate the theme of teenage rebellion, something generic of the western world. Unfortunately inherit of teenage rebellion is anti-social behaviour so eloquently put by Dave:

“Bet ya ten bucks you can’t take out that street light” (P27)

Also it is apparent that the teenage characters in this play, are excessively disrespectful of their parents:

Diane (mother) – “Where are you going?”

Jared (son) – “Shut up! Shut the f@#$ up!” (P29)

Enright also to connect with audiences uses colloquialism and refers to things that aren’t widely apparent internationally, only adding to the genuine underpinning of the play:

“It’s not a freaking blue light disco” (P18)

The stereotype that Australian’s are heavy drinkers is played to in Blackrock in relation to the various inebriated conversations that take place throughout the play:

Scott says – “I’m so ripped”

Daveo says – “Only one thing to do. Get rippeder.” (P25)

Though a few terms are slightly dated by today’s standards,” pashing-off” for example, the underlining effect is well-developed and it adds to the interrelationships and hence the human context, thus enabling young people to explore their own ideas and experiences in the world they live.

“Blurred” is the third and final part of a rites of passage trilogy by Stephen Davis. It pays homage to the legendary journey made annually by grade twelve graduates to south east Queensland for schoolies. The play comprises of postcard promisees, surf, one night stands, release and acceptance, not to mention excessive drinking, wild times and the tendency toward the irresponsible in the utopian dreamscape known as the Gold Coast, in particular Surfers Paradise. Davis offers an intrepid representation of the human context through intertwining interrelationships, dramatic form and language which culminates to form an accurate depiction of Australian youth. “Blurred” is much more than a theatricalised retelling of a trip down the road for a “piss-up”, it clearly demonstrates Australian youth culture at a unique and euphoric moment in their lives and runs deeper than stereotypical colloquialisms inherit of other Australian theatre and would prove to be a distinctive feature for performance at the International Festival.

The theme around which “Blurred” is centred is the concept of a right of passage. Schoolies has become an integral part of the voyage from student to adulthood as the character Lynette metaphorically states in the play:

“The whole weekend is important…it’s our movement from the back of the bus to the front of the bus.” (P48)

It is a carefree week before one must ask themselves the inevitable question as Stephen Davis so eloquently put:

“What the hell do I do now?” (P40)

The other theme that is portrayed within this piece of theatre is a concept strongly affiliated with Australian culture, mateship. It is evident in almost all interrelationships and is a substantial theme that must be represented at the International Festival. Larrikinism is also apparent in “Blurred”, in some relationships more so than that of others, in relation to underage drinking which often leads to irresponsible behaviour which is inherit of a lack of consideration for the repercussions of these actions.

Stephen Davis created the characters Calvin and Hobbs to represent stereotypical Aussie battlers; they aid in providing comic relief through their language choices and embody the traits of mateship, larrikinism and irresponsible behaviour which unfortunately leads to the untimely death of Calvin. Ironically both the characters names and persona’s mimic those of two cartoon characters by the names of Calvin and Hobbes, a small boy and imaginary friend whom constantly embark on exciting and humorous adventures. An example of Calvin use of Australian colloquialism is:

“Oh no…I forgot the doms…” (P66)

By Calvin and Hobbs using Australian colloquialisms they add to the comical value of the play and also portray the essence of larrikinism which resides, in some more so than others, all Australians:

“I’m nearly pissing my pants here with excitement” (P66)

This leads onto how their larrikinism can be taken to far, and they move from being larrikins having a good time harming no one to partaking in anti-social and irresponsible behaviour which is detriment to themselves and the community:

“Well you want me to go faster…Yeah? Really?…This car will beat anything on the freeway…one thirty five…one thirty six…feel it shake?…One fifty…HELL YEAHHH!” (P66-7)

Unfortunately the adventure of Calvin and Hobbs was soon to end when Calvin suggested they jump on the roof of a train:

“You want to have fun?…Lets get on top of the train…We surf it. Come on it’s one of the things you wanted to do…You wanted to surf…hang ten, buddy!” (P96)

Calvin takes the leap of faith and sadly is killed in the process, this representing how foolish and irresponsible acts can have dire consequences. On a lighter note, Calvin and Hobbs clearly embody mateship and this is shown throughout the scenes in which they are in:

“I want to hit you…we’re just pushing each other…Don’t you reckon that’s interesting?…We cant hit each other…’Cause we’ve been mates since primary school…I’m sorry man”

This quote portrays how mates stick together and support one another, this is without doubt one of the most positive attributes of Australian Youth Culture and it is imperative that this is shown in the Festival.

When comparing “Blurred”
Now I’m going to discuss the three poems that im going to explain afterwards. Now these three poems shows us childhood and its general view from every character as we see the poets describe situation or part of there life that’s likely to be a part of there life , every one of them feels and senses and remembers his days when he was a child having a mother and a father but there are differences between the three poets about there sadness and happiness and if they were really happy expressing there feelings in the poem or really sad about what had gone and never come back regretting that they got old and being men and never seeing the past but in these poems they see it when they smell, feel and hear something so as we see the three poems that will make child hood having more appearance is half past two by u.a.fanthorpe and piano by Dh.lawerence and my parents kept me from children who were rough by Stephen spender.

‘Half Past Two’ is a poem in which Fanthorpe describes how a young child is given a detention for an unspecified misdemeanor and is forgotten by his teacher. Fanthorpe draws on her experience as a teacher to describe the scene as seen through the child’s eyes.

The Title of the poem tells me a lot of information even before I read the poem. The information it puts across is that: A boy is told to stay behind until ‘Half Past Two’ but this has no meaning to him because he has no concept of ‘time’. The boy can’t tell the time but yet he divides the day up into familiar, recognizable units, as in ‘schooltime’, ‘lunchtime’, ‘hometime’.

“Half Past Two” uses a lot of different tones, tones such as: Nostalgic Innocent, Dream Like!

In the first stanza Fanthorpe includes the first of his markers of the day which the boy recognizes as a time in the day. This is set out as a ‘compound word’: ‘Schooltime’. Whereas the words “(I forgot what it was)” and the use of parenthesis (brackets) show that it wasn’t all that important to the boy. The use of the capital letters in” something very wrong” shows the emphasis the teacher gives to the offence made by the child as well as to the chills own intensified sense of guilt for committing this crime. The angry way in which the teacher pronounced these words made the child’s imagination magnify the mistake and its consequences. these second line shows mostly the point of view of the teacher concerning the offence made by the boy , while the third line gives the point of view of the narrator, which is distinguished through the use of brackets.orpe includes the first of his markers of the day which the boy recognizes as a time in the day.

This is set out as a ‘compound word’: ‘Schooltime’. Whereas the words “(I forgot what it was)” and the use of parenthesis (brackets) show that it wasn’t all that important to the boy. The use of the capital letters in” something very wrong” shows the emphasis the teacher gives to the offence made by the child as well as to the chills own intensified sense of guilt for committing this crime. The angry way in which the teacher pronounced these words made the child’s imagination magnify the mistake and its consequences. these second line shows mostly the point of view of the teacher concerning the offence made by the boy , while the third line gives the point of view of the narrator, which is distinguished through the use of brackets.

In the second stanza, Fanthorpe uses the use of capital letters to give the teacher a God- Like status “She” in the boys eyes. Also the use of repetition, of ‘something Very Wrong’ shows the ‘serious’ nature of his wrongdoing. In this stanza the words ‘Half Past Two’ shall come across to us for the first time (except for the title). These words are used to tell the boy, what time he has to stay in the school- room till. What is behind the child’s terrible experience here is his simple concept of time, in which does not include numerals, only daily time modules such as ‘schooltime’, ‘lunchtime’, ‘hometime’,’gettinuptime’. That is the why the teacher that he will have to stay in school-room “till half-past-two”, he does not really grasp when he can go home; he feels as if he is stuck in eternity, lost forever and ever.

In the third stanza Human nature; she’s cross, He’s scared…… Result? …. He is abandoned! Note the use of again of a capital for “Time” to show the importance of this mysterious entity. As the narrator does not mention the name of the teacher referring to her with ‘she’

In this stanza the boy describes his version and understanding of a ‘clock’, the boy tells the time of day by dividing the day up into recognizable units that he understands these are written as ‘compound words’ in the poem e.g. ‘Gettinguptime’. We can’t help laughing without for a moment losing sympathy for this innocent child. This way that the child speaks about time reflects the actual way he hears these words spoken and how simply he writes them the way he hears them. To a small boy these are indeed ‘importanttimes’ the actual way he hears these words spoken and how simply he writes them the way he hears them. To a small boy these are indeed ‘important times’ since they dictate his daily activities. This shows how small matters can adopt to be a huge significance for a child.

In the fifth stanza in my mind I think this stanza tells us a lot about the poems contexts. Here the boy shows that he can recognise that significant, repeated events occur at the same time each day. ‘But not Half Past Two’ reinforces the fact that he cannot tell the time, although he is familiar with the clock face.

In stanza six the boy uses the language employed by adults teaching the time to small children. “He couldn’t click its Language”. This one quote tells us that the boy does not understand the clock and the time on the clock, he does not know how to read off the clock, it is like it speaks a different language to you and what the boy speaks. In this stanza there is use of ambiguity in the word “Click”, this has two meanings here, one of them is the understanding of the clock and the other meaning is the sound the clock makes as it moves round and points towards the time, so we are able to read off the clock face accurately with the use of the hands. The boy recognizes the ‘hands’ as “Two legs for walking” presenting to us that he knows what a clock face looks like. So he waited and waited at what seemed to him endless. He waited ‘beyond onceupona’, out of the reach of all the timefors’. Since he did not know when is this ‘half past two’ would end or would come he felt as if it would never come. He knew that he ‘escaped forever’ into a timeless world, a world of sound ‘silent noise’, a world of smell ‘old chrysanthemums’, and a world of touch ‘into the air outside’

In stanza seven this stanza the boy is not confined by time or restricted by deadlines. He is able to escape through sublimation into physical sensations, which are explained in stanza eight. The child finally got home in time for “teatime”. His journey in the limitless time of eternity comes to a happy end. But he would “never forget” this experience. He would always remember how he once “escaped the timeless land of ever”. Living in the modern world of schedules and appointments, we feel that we too would like to live in such state once in a while, out of all time constraints.

In stanza eight Fanthorpe uses the technique of imagery by using words like “Smell, Touch, Sound” to create a visual impression of how the boy escapes into a mister

Now if we go to the speaker in “Piano” by D. H. Lawrence he is proud to be a full grown man, yet he loves remembering his happy childhood; his nostalgic attitude causes him to feel guilty as if he had betrayed his present state of being. Through effective imagery, Lawrence is able (to describe an image) to help the reader understand the speaker’s nostalgic attitude. The diction and tone used in this poem reveal the speaker’s struggle as his feelings mix between his desire to be a man and his desire to return to his childhood. The syntax and structure of the poem keep the reader in tune with the flow of the poem. In this poem a man struggles to remain a man while fighting off his memories of the past, which he feels would be uncharacteristic of his present maturity.

The technique of imagery by using words like “Smell, Touch, Sound” to create a visual impression of how the boy escapes into a myste.

Now if we go to the speaker in “Piano” by D. H. Lawrence he is proud to be a full grown man, yet he loves remembering his happy childhood; his nostalgic attitude causes him to feel guilty as if he had betrayed his present state of being. Through effective imagery, Lawrence is able (to describe an image) to help the reader understand the speaker’s nostalgic attitude. The diction and tone used in this poem reveal the speaker’s struggle as his feelings mix between his desire to be a man and his desire to return to his childhood. The syntax and structure of the poem keep the reader in tune with the flow of the poem. In this poem a man struggles to remain a man while fighting off his memories of the past, which he feels would be uncharacteristic of his present maturity.

The imagery in this poem helps to describe a picture in the reader’s mind so that the reader can sympathize with the speaker during his journeys into the past. In the first stanza, in the first line, the first image is of a woman. In the fourth line the reader learns that this woman is the speaker’s mother. The third line shows an image of a “child sitting under the piano . . . pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles.” This image gives the reader an image, perhaps of a parlor room, of a child about three or four years of age enjoying the music produced by his mother. When we come to explain the poem we see it very complicated but it’s very simple.

In the first five lines the poem reveals to us how the poet reacts with the “woman singing to me” and how it returned it to the past .we could hear a soft musical sound but we could also visualize the romantic scene ,with a beautiful woman sitting in the dusk ,playing the piano and singing melodiously. This soft musicality however is soon contrasted with the powerfully musical line “boom of the tingling strings “as the poet is carried away with the music carried away from the present to the past. Now when we go to the nest four lines we find the poet turning point as he says “in spite of myself” which reveals to us the poet regret of growing up so soon and leaving his past and surely the heart that is in me must belong to the old Sundays evenings.

At this line I feel symphony towards the poet old age and his desire of returning to see the memory of his childhood. Now we are at the past and seeing a film of the poet life as he says “to the old Sunday evenings at home” which means when his family would meet and gather all of them in the house and coldness and dark wandered outsided.the poets heart is like a lost child ,longing to go back home to the “cosy parlour” with all its religious ,holy warmth ,as the family gather around “the tinkling piano”, which is personified as a “guide” leading the voices of the family. What a happy, cosy atmosphere it is!!

At the third stanza the poet returns to the present, I felt sense of defeat as the poet Returns with us to the present moment time as we hear the woman singing in the dusk in a Hungarian air. There is a fascinating contrast here between the unpleasant “clamour” of the present and the magnificent “glamour” of the childhood days. Although the woman in the dusk makes him remember his mother playing the piano she couldn’t reach his mothers performance and its “glamour” .the poet seems to have revived his joyful days of childhood, and his present state of manhood is cast down in the flood of remembrance”. Memories will always be a magical world in every body’s mind, a world of fantasy that will always lie upon us no matter how old we get, that’s why the poet at the end weeps “like a child for the past”. The poet choice of words, more over could create a happy melodious warm atmosphere.

But when we go to see and compare between these poems in my parents kept me from children who were rough” is a poem I have recently been reading. It is written by Stephen spender. It is about a boy who longs to be part of a group of children who he looks up to. I think the poet is writing about himself because he uses a lot of words like ‘my’, ‘me’ and ‘I’. The strong inhibiting control that the parents had on the narrator as a child is clearly felt in the line “when he tells us” my parents kept me from children who were rough” which means that his parents were so over protective towards their child that they were trying to shield their son from anything that in their opinion would harm him.

In the first paragraph the poet introduces some of the things they do. The poet writes about them throwing “Words like Stones”. He also writes about how they dress and take off their clothes. The children wear rags and ‘torn clothes’. Their skin shows through. This gives the idea that the children have a reckless nature. But certainly this is the reserved point of view of the parents. The child himself, we can feel and see that he himself is rather envious of these children freedom and even wishes to join them as “they ran in the street / And climbed cliffs and stripped in the country streams”. The alliteration in “climbed cliffs” comes to heighten the joyful sense of attraction that such wild boys adventures can have for any child.

The second verse tells the boy is scared of what the boys might do to him and what thy might say. Fear isn’t as big a part as bullying but they go together well. Another theme that may be included is loneliness and isolation and too gives us an idea of the over protectiveness of the parents succeeded in creating a sense of fear of those children who were terrifying “more than tigers their muscles like iron”. Their physical and mental bullying can be really cruel and painful as we can see their painful grip “tight on my arms” and their cruel “salt coarse” mocking as they copied my lisp behind me on the road”. The influence of his parents class -conscious view is clearly felt as he describes how these bullies barked “at our world” as if these children have an isolated world from his civilized, cleanliness world a separate world apart from all this.

At the last lines of the poem comes to show his yearning to be given the opportunity to break free from his own protective parents and to be able to make friends with these rough children and to be able to join there wild free world where they can do what ever they want and at any time. He has often tried to make friends with these boys “pretending to smile”, yet the bullies always denied his opportunity as they “never smiled”. These lines might make us think about the way the parents raised there child with fear and over protective shield which made him see these children as tigers and monsters who are free to do what they like to do and envying them for how they are living and how wonderful life is if u just got free from the grip of your parents. However the poet shows us that these parents by backing away everything from there child he would not know her but they are wrong because he would want it more than ever.

Overall I think the poet tries to tell the reader that the boy was scared of what the boys do to him but he desperately wanted to be part of their group because the idea of being able to do anything that you want must be an exciting thought for the boy.

In conclusion of the three poems we see that few similarities are there thought different point of views of the poets while there is happy thoughts there are sad thoughts but in my point of view there is a link between the three poets that’s why they are all connected to each other through childhood as they all discuss there days when they were children and express there feelings about themselves when they were just beginning to understand life as it is. I see that when we come to read the poem we feel some of the poet feelings that he is trying to say for that when we finally conclude what the poets want us (the readers) to understand from his work that u cant return to your childhood after your mature and that every poet in this poems tells about it in his own unique way that’s why we differentiate between them because of there way of showing the reader what and how was it in the past of every poet!!!

to “Blackrock” one must take into account that “Blurred” is a comical and somewhat un-realistic narrative. As opposed to a very realistic and less dramatised event that often occurs within Australian Society around which “Blackrock” is set. Both plays are expected to give accurate representations of Australian Youth Culture, though in reality they offer accurate representations of Australian Youth Culture in two very different lights and not simply in general. Both play to stereotypical Australian colloquialism in an attempt to appeal to the targeted age group of teenagers.

Blackrock is a superior play in relation to the purpose it would serve at the Festival due to it’s in depth human context attained by complex characters and their inherent interrelationships. As opposed to “Blurred” which is a series of comical stories that are based around a singular event in which no more than three characters are ever deeply involved with each other. Due to this fact it can be said that the convenient intertwining of tales and almost accidental relationships do offer insight into Australian Youth Culture but in most instances it only scratches the surface.

In collaboration with the esteemed judges of the International Theatre for Young People’s Festival it has been concluded that though the play “Blackrock” does not offer a flawless representation of Australian youth in that; the characters lack ambition and goals, show little to no respect to their elders, parents or the authorities. It does portray a more realistic and less stereotypical representation of Australian Youth. Therefore “Blackrock” by Nick Enright will front the Festival with “Blurred” by Stephen Davis closely seconding it. Having scenes from “Blurred” in the Festival will demonstrate that amongst the flaws of Australian Youth Culture there are many positives, such as mateship, larrikinism and the will to have a good time. For these are for the most part predominant in Australian Youth Culture and this must also be represented clearly and concisely.