Compare the play "Killed" with "Blue Remembered Hills"

Compare the play “Killed” with “Blue Remembered Hills”

In this essay I will compare the two plays “Killed” and “Blue Remembered Hills”. The play “Blue Remembered Hills” was written by Dennis Potter, I have been studying the Samuel French LTD edition. It is set in 1943 in the south west of Britain. “Killed” was written by Fred Hawksley, it is set mostly in France with flash backs to Manchester.

Both plays are set in war times, “Blue Remembered Hills” takes place in the Second World War and “Killed” is set in the First World War. In “Blue Remembered Hills” the war is a back ground to the story; it is referred to but never seen, unlike “Killed” where the war is what makes the story. When we acted out the play “Blue Remembered Hills” I played John, he is a child who is part of a gang, a lot like the 14 platoon in “Killed”. In both there is a strong sense of hierarchy; in “Killed” there is no answering back to the one in charge this being the R.S.M. and in “Blue Remembered Hills” the character in charge is Wallace Wilson, although ever elusive on stage he is constantly mentioned in the dialogue as “…no.1” in the group.

The speech in “Blue Remembered Hills” is very naturalistic using slang to enhance the informal feel of the play. “Killed” uses a more formal register when someone is in the presence of the R.S.M but takes a more natural tone when Billy remembers life in Manchester. They both have similar story lines where a group of friends are forced, or accidentally kill another one of their friends. They are both tragedies because the endings are sad and a friend ends up dead. In “Blue Remembered Hills” war is an exciting and glorified vision in the minds of the children. In ...

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The characters in the two plays have very different personalities, yet they resemble some of the personalities from the other, for example the R.S.M. and Peter being a kind of leader figures bossing the members of the group. Billy and Donald also show similarities as they both die and their friends play a part in their deaths. The two plays would be performed very differently, “Blue Remembered Hills” is very natural; running in almost real time unlike “Killed” which is very stylistic and happens over two years with narrated flash backs. I would show these flash backs via the flash back being acted out on stage while Billy addresses the audience not being able to interact with the flash back although he tries to. I would create a simple set for “Killed” maybe some seats and a table for Billy’s home in Manchester and some staging lined up to make the lip of the trench. For the “Blue Remembered Hills” set we made a barn behind a woodland scene so that the whole scene could take place without any changes to the set and used the whole stage well. For costumes I would have Billy from “Killed” in a First World War uniform and in “Blue Remembered Hills” I would try to find some clothes that could help an actor inhabit the role of a child in the 1940s.

The two plays are both very interesting and conjure different visions of war, in “Blue Remembered Hills” the World War engulfs all lands over seas and yet the children in mainland Britain have only heard the glorified version of the war, whereas Billy in ‘Killed’ believes he will become a hero but finds that war is not as heroic as he thought.

By Tom Coleman 10.8