P’tang Yang Kipperbang

Alan has a hard time at his school. In P.T. he was sent to the headmaster to get the cane. The cane is not used anymore but it was a type of physical punishment used to discipline children when they did something wrong. He was caught "pressing" Eunice, a ritual carried out every day at the end of school where all the boys line up and press their bodies against Eunice whilst she pretends not to like it. He also let the whole school down because he does not kiss Ann at the end of the school play, and if all those problems aren't enough he has to constantly struggle with his feelings for Ann.

Alan dreams a lot. He dreams about kissing Ann. He believes that if he doesn't masturbate God will let him kiss her. He tries so hard to stop masturbating he wears a boxing glove in bed so he can't get a grip!

Jack Rosenthal, the author, has used John Arlott's commentary to voice Alan's thoughts and feelings out loud. This is particularly effective on a television. Jack Rosenthal has created John Arlott's commentary in the style of a cricket match. For example when Alan is feeling happy or pleased the cricket game is going well and lots of points are being scored. In contrast, when Alan is feeling bad or down, the cricket game is going badly, players are going out and the scoring is low. I personally think that Jack Rosenthal has found a very effective way of putting across Alan's feelings.

The workmen in the play are also giving an insight into Alan's feelings and his life. For example, at the end of the play when Alan is walking home after Ann kissed him on the cheek, the workmen say, "He'll be starting shaving next" then the other workman says "Then spend the rest of his life trying to stop the bleeding". This statement can be taken literally but it also means that there will be more and more heart brakes.

As I mentioned before, Alan has two main friends. They are called "Abbo and Shaz". Abbo and Shaz are similar in the way that they both want more than a kiss from a girl. They are both obsessed with sex. Although they seem a lot more streetwise than Alan they are still very naive.

Two of the other main characters in the play are "Ms. Land and Tommy". Ms. Land is Alan's teacher. She seems very polite, well brought up and very lady like but in reality she likes to sleep around! Almost all the way through the play there is friction between her and Tommy. This is because, we find out later in the play, that Ms. Land has slept with Tommy the grounds man and she thinks that she is pregnant!

Tommy, the grounds man, also seems to have a split personality. Everyone sees him as just the grounds man when in fact he is a deserter from the war. He was only in the East Lancheshire regiment for 3 weeks when he ran away. Both Ms. Land and Tommy are summed up when the headmaster says "the dichotomy of appearance and reality". Alan really looks up to Tommy and he is heart broken when he finds out his nly role model is a fake.

The setting for the play is a 1948 Grammar school. This provides lots of different settings in one place. For example there was the cross-country run, the P.T. lesson, the classrooms, the toilets etc... There are a lot of things mentioned in the play, which makes it obvious that the play is set 1948. For example the light hearted graffiti in the toilets, the cane, the names of people and other things.

Jack Rosenthal uses several techniques to make the play more interesting. He only makes short scenes because the play was made for T.V.

Over all I really enjoyed reading the play and I will read some more of Jack Rosenthal's plays if I can.

Steven Crawford Page 1