The Long and the Short and the Tall - dramatic techniques used

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The Long and the Short and the Tall

    During this play there are dramatic techniques used by Willis Hall to present the moral dilemma faced by the British soldiers during the drama. Willis Hall prompts us to think about the rights and wrongs of war and the death of the Japanese prisoner. He does this in more ways than one but I’m going to focus on one point exactly: the point in which he constructs a scenario in which the Japanese prisoner has British cigarettes on him; this has to be one of the most dramatic scenes within the play and it covers all of the soldiers views on the prisoner.

    This whole situation is set during World War 2 in the Malayan jungle over a period of a couple of hours this is relevant to all wars and conflict: if one thing hasn’t changed over the years it’s conflict. This is very good because it gives the play a kind of “real time” effect; bringing the audience in and making them feel like a part of the play. There aren’t long periods of time in which the audience have no idea what happens; what happens happens in front of their eyes and there is very little that they miss, they learn what the soldiers learn such as when the Japanese lines are advancing or when the prisoner is coming to the hut. This helps the audience relate with the soldiers and the difficulty of their situation.

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    The way that the whole play has been staged and set is within a small hut which has two windows and a small table within. This makes the whole scene claustrophobic and makes the tension ricochet off the walls and causes all of the soldiers to get on each other’s backs especially those prone to anger i.e. Bamforth, Johnstone and Macleish: pretty much the whole group. Bamforth fights with both of these people in two separate occasions and because of their condition and their personality it causes them have serious issues with each other. Bamforth resents order and ...

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