Compare Willow Pattern written by Judith Johnson and performed in spring 2004, with Dust written by Sarah Daniels and performed in spring 2003.

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Comparative Drama Essay

By Barbara Williams

In this essay I will compare Willow Pattern written by Judith Johnson and performed in spring 2004, with Dust written by Sarah Daniels and performed in spring 2003.  Willow Pattern was oriental Chinese and had a very patriotic culture where status and royalty were of great significance. This was shown throughout the play through dialogue with the Mandarin or Ta-Jins’s mother, in which it was revealed that the social hierarchy played a major role at the time.  Dust was set in modern times and showed the prevailing culture of the 21st century; however it also went into ancient roman times and in both time periods status was also very important.  This became apparent through scenes on the tube as a group of girls ganged up on Flavia and the attitudes of the audience in the arena.

The main themes running through Willow Pattern were relationships, true love, power, control and anger.  The anger and power were explored through the character of the Mandarin, the person that everyone but Knoon-She (his daughter) bowed down to.  He constantly and desperately tried to control his daughter and was livid when she disobeyed him.  The main moral throughout was that true love will conquer all, despite anyone disapproving or interfering.

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A similar theme ran through Dust, although it wasn’t true love, a major theme was the value of true friendship and how this would always win.  This was shown through the true relationship between Flavia and Achillia, and the false, shallow friendships between Achillia and Amazon, and Flavia and Chloe.  The main over all themes was being true to yourself and knowing who you are.  This was explored by the protagonist Flavia, who constantly had her personality dictated to her and was told by Bo and Amazon to be herself despite what others said.

One similarity between the two ...

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