Comparison between the sitcom 'Friends' and the play of 'Neville's Island'.

Comparison between the sitcom ‘Friends’ and the play of ‘Neville’s Island’

By David Blick

The hit sitcom ‘Friends’ started ten years ago when we were first introduced to Monica, Rachael, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey and today I am going to compare the sitcom of ‘Friends’ with the play of ‘Neville’s Island’ which was written by Tim Firth. Neville’s Island is not only a play. It has also been recently made into a film starring Timothy Spall, Martin Clunes, Jeff Rawle and David Bamber. ‘Friends’ on the other hand was written and still remains for television and for the past ten years it has been broadcast over the Atlantic to millions of eager viewers both in America and the U.K. In America ‘Friends’ is broadcast over the television network of NBC compared to the U.K where it is received through Channel 4.

When we first observe the film of ‘Neville’s Island’ we are introduced to four businessmen, who, when their boat sinks, find themselves stranded on a small island, called Rampsholme in the middle of the Lake District's Derwent Water. The Four Characters in Neville’s Island are on a team-building weekend, they are Neville, (Jeff Rawle), has become the elected Captain of the group, who then proves he is unfit for his position when he leads the team in the wrong direction. He does his best to maintain order in the group’s arguments, and works well as a go-between as he proves to be very reasonable with his fellow peers, and he seems to be the most adjusted member of the group to ‘island life’, He is dressed in an Anorak and wears glasses. He tries his hardest to keep the peace between Angus and Gordon, (Timothy Spall) who is extremely sarcastic towards his fellow peers and seems to pick up on every little flaw in their character, which later show him to be a bully, his cruel sarcasm gives us many funny moments throughout the play of Neville’s island, such as “all Christians are like Radio hams”. Gordon seems to have many rants at his fellow colleagues most of which result in “handbags at dawn” style tension between him and Angus, (David Bamber) whom at the start of the play; he comes across as a good-natured person who is full of optimism. Angus seems to have dressed out of the camp shop side of his wardrobe so to speak as he is dressed constantly in cagoules, anoraks and knitted hats. Angus turns out to be a bit sad as he seems to bore everyone stiff, with his numerous attempts at cracking jokes. Also, later in the play where all hope seems to have to been lost he suddenly reveals a hidden sausage, which in the heating of proves to be very funny. He may also later have hindered the groups rescue as he seems to have bought the entire stock of a camping shop and told nobody about it, his shopping list includes a 18-inch knife, climbing rope…and for some reason unbeknown to his fellow standees…..a dinner suit! Roy, (Martin Clunes), is a born-again Christian who has an un-kempt appearance. Roy has recently returned to work following a prolonged breakdown, after the death of his mother, Lucy, he literally hangs onto his sanity and Gordon’s rant about how old people only become religious because ‘they are scared stiff, and there just grabbing, grabbing, grabbing at the rope, and no-ones holding the other end’ doesn’t help either as this near-enough sends Roy into a relapse, and he disappears into the undergrowth with an 18-inch knife, so the group fear he may do something to harm himself, but later he is found, sat up a tree wearing only his underwear, but after he returns the knife to Neville, they fear he may take his own life again as Angus’ almost ‘mile’ long piece of rope has gone missing, and they think he may hang himself… he also reveals to Neville that he helped his mother to end her own life…Roy is also a keen birdwatcher, and he takes his time on the island to observe a rare falcon, and is called amongst many other things by Gordon………’Doo-lally’

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‘Friends’ is all about 6 friends who all live in the same block of apartments in New York, the show takes us through their individual strengths, weaknesses, problems and goals…most of all their intertwining relationships with each other. The characters in friends are Joey Tribbiani – (Matt Leblanc.) Joey is broad-shouldered, wide-eyed and thick-headed. Joey comes from New York and is a lover who has had many partners. Joey is a not-so-good actor who never has to play-act being a good guy or a better friend, but he wants to hit the big-time as an actor. He is cheeky, and most of his jokes are sexually orientated, followed by hand gestures. Joey is sarcastic. Chandler Bing – (Matthew Perry) Wise-cracks, and sets off development in characters & storyline. Chandler appears to be over-qualified at work and he seems to be afraid of wife Monica. Chandler gives really bad advice. Ross Geller – (David Schwimmer) Ross is the personification of an intellectual geek as he is an expert in Palaeontology. Ross is still looking for love after 3 divorces. He has always loved Rachael. Ross is quite nerdy, and (most of the time) sticks to the rule book. Rachael Green – (Jennifer Aniston), Rachael comes across as an IT/ Daddy’s girl. She dither’s a lot, and is meant to be with Ross, even though they have drifted apart many times. Monica Geller Bing – (Courtney Cox Arquette) used to be a high-school fatty, but now has slimmed down to obsessive and cleaning mad Monica. She is a good sister to Ross and a friend to everyone. After marrying Chandler, Monica seems to have made him find his maturity. Phoebe Buffay Hannigan – (Lisa Kudrow) a hippie chick who has led a traumatic life, her mother killed herself, her stepfather went to prison, and she lived on the streets for some of her life. She drives people mad with her out-of-key folk songs that she writes with her guitar. Phoebe can be quite dippy, but she is kind-hearted, a good spirit, and seems to take everyday as it comes. She near enough floats around and I think would have fit in perfectly in the 60’s. – Very off-the-wall.

The sitcom of friends is set in New York and it appears to be aimed at the younger generations of the 90’s and 00’s, this is mainly caused by its humour and that the characters themselves are very young. In comparison to this the play of ‘Neville’s Island’ is set in a remote island in the middle of a lake in the Lake District and its characters are all middle-aged around 40 years old and ‘Neville’s Island’, I think can appeal to all ages as the comedy and mishaps that occur between the four characters of Angus, Roy, Gordon and Neville could almost happen to anybody of any age. The four men in ‘Neville’s Island’ are all executives of a water company and they have been sent on this team-building exercise.

The friendships in either drama are very different, as the 6 friends in ‘Friends’ are all immensely close and after being so for ten years they appear to have a love for each other which comes with a bond that makes their friendships so special to them, even though the group is half men, half women apart from sexual tension between Monica and Chandler, Ross and Rachael this appears to not affect their friendships whatsoever. These bonds of friendship could not be more different than in the play of ‘Neville’s Island’ by Tim Firth as the four colleagues seem to have been forced to be together and this creates lots of tension between them particularly with Roy and Gordon with his rants about “all Christians are like radio-hams”. The four colleagues seem to be each putting up with each other constantly and we get a sense that if they had not worked in the same workplace, these four individuals would never had considered becoming friends with each other.

The Two drama’s of ‘Friends’ and ‘Neville’s Island’ have been written in the same decade and they include many moral issues and information about current affairs for example the mood of ‘Friends’ was slightly changed for a while during the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World trade centres. The home life/lifestyle has affected the personalities of all the characters in either drama such as Phoebe is slightly mad and sometimes eccentric. This may have been caused by her circumstances as a child as her mother killed herself, her stepfather went to prison, and she lived on the streets for some of her life. In ‘Neville’s Island’ we see Gordon who appears to bully most people he sees by picking up on every flaw in their character and using it as ammunition against them, Gordon appears to be in denial as in fact he is very lonely but refuses to admit this.

There are many themes/issues that arise from the two dramas of ‘Neville’s Island’ and ‘Friends’ such as Status; in ‘Friends’ the 6 characters stand almost as individuals and they respect each other because of it and apart from minute outbursts from such characters as Monica giving rants about “Crummies”, but this is simply a part of Monica’s character and does not distinguish her as having more power over fellow friends. In contrast to this there is use of Status/Power in ‘Neville’s Island’, and this comes mainly from the character Gordon bullying people and bossing them about. Gordon is not however the chosen leader of the group, who is Neville but Gordon, underestimates his given authority on the island and simply does what he wants and says what he wants regardless of their feelings. Gordon always makes sarcastic and negative comments about his fellow colleagues; this makes him feel superior and powerful to the rest of the group.

Friendship is a key theme in both pieces of drama as in ‘Friends’, the entire purpose of the sitcom is to display the friendship between the 6 characters however ‘Neville’s Island’ meddles with the idea of leaving work-place politics behind in order the group of them to survive, whilst on the island though we realise that this group of colleagues don’t actually like each other and seem to have been forced into this team-building weekend.

There are many relationships in both pieces of drama, some sexual but some arise form tension and the clash of personalities like that in ‘Neville’s Island’ between Roy and Gordon. Gordon is convinced that Roy is faking his religion for attention/acceptance and goes on many rants about this for example when he tells Roy that “all Christians are like radio-hams”. Gordon continues to cause tension between the group when there is a clash of personalities between Angus and himself as Angus is constantly trying to tell jokes, but none of them are funny as Angus often gets the joke mixed-up, this irritates Gordon even further, and he reached the height of his irritation when he discovers that Angus seems to have an entire camping shop worth of supplies in his backpack, along with climbing rope, an 18-inch machete…and even a 3-piece dinner suit! Gordon continues to irritate Angus by simply picking on him, but this ends when Gordon accuses Angus’ wife of being adulterous and that right now she is “screaming in ecstasy on the bread shelf in Sainsbury’s”. Relationships in ‘Friends’ that are of a sexual sense come from Ross and Rachael as since the beginning of the series they have been attracted to each other and after 3 divorces Ross seems to have found his perfect match, this applies to Rachael; and in the final episode Ross and Rachael finally get together. Another relationship in the sitcom ‘Friends’ comes from Monica and Chandler, they get married and later find out that they cannot have children so in the final series they have a surrogate mother and she agrees to give them her baby, but when the baby is being born in the final episode they find out that instead of one baby, they are having twins. The two remaining friends who do not get it together are Joey and Phoebe, there has never been an attraction between them and Phoebe marries a man called Mike and becomes Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan.

Co-operation plays a big part in the play of ‘Neville’s Island’ by Tim Firth, the entire purpose of the team-building is to bring the four characters together as a team, so that they can co-operate together in this or any environment, but this proves difficult as the four colleagues are completely incompatible and in the end simply get on each others nerves. The characters in ‘Friends’ co-operate completely with each other, they help each other out in any circumstances and they work together perfectly.

The social context of the sitcom ‘Friends’ by David Crane takes us through an entire decade of events through the years of 1994 -2004. ‘Friends’ is set in the city of New York and focuses on city life and the glamorous lifestyles of 6 friends in ‘coffee culture’ which is centred around their meeting place – a coffee house by the name of ‘Central Perk’. The social context of ‘Friends’ takes us before, during and through the aftermath of the 11th September attacks on the World Trade Centre, which all Americans including the characters in friends come out of this very patriotic. The Sitcom of ‘Friends’ focuses more on the social lives of the friends rather than their work places, this is mainly shown through Chandler as we get a sense that he is successful in his job, but this is shrouded in mystery as we never find out what he does or indeed what his workplace looks like. A convention of an American sitcom is that it shows Americans in an ‘ideal’ lifestyle and there is no hint of poverty or depravation and they appear to be at the higher ‘middle-class’ and American viewers hope to aspire to this. These conventions are used in the sitcom ‘Friends’. ‘Friends’ is filmed in a studio and no-matter-what shot is used, we never get to see that elusive ‘other wall’ in contrast to this in the play ‘Neville’s Island’ the weather appears to mirror the emotions of the characters, this is pathetic fallacy, and instead of being filmed in a studio, ‘Neville’s Island’ is filmed in a natural environment on location. ‘Neville’s Island’ is set in the 1990’s and in a rural setting as the entire play occurs outdoors. ‘Neville’s Island’ is set in the time where John Major from the conservative party was Prime Minister, and the negative attitudes towards the situations used through Gordon mirror that of the time as John Major was trying to shake off and fight Margaret Thatcher’s “Everyone for themselves” view.

‘Neville’s Island’ is a black comedy as it uses the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements to give a certain effect. The humour within ‘Neville’s Island’ is created because of the contrasting characters and the way that they interact with each other. Each character has their own individual sense of humour; Gordon possesses a sarcastic, negative and almost child-like sense of humour. Angus’ jokes are more centred on farcical subjects that when told aren’t very funny at all, but they appear to have been funny in Angus’ head as he laughs at his own jokes a lot. Roy doesn’t really have a sense of humour as he appears to be too wrapped up in his religion, but sometimes he can appear to be quite argumentative and almost psychotic.

The sitcom ‘Friends’ is also centred on comedy and the humour is directed at and centred on the characters. The characters all respond differently to different situations but comedy is usually created by the use of facial expressions, accents, off-the-wall comments and the immense use of timing and pauses.

From both plays there are many ideas that I would like to experiment with and include in my improvisation unit of “Stranded”, such as

Being stranded
Comedy/Sarcasm
Characters, with similarities to that of Neville’s Island and friends
One of the characters has a secret.
Tension
The types of characters that have been created for example Joey’s use of timing and comments, Monica’s obsessiveness, Phoebe’s eccentrics, Roy’s almost psychotic state of mind and his belief in religion or Gordon’s sarcasm and use of negative comments.

The themes used within these two dramas, for example I have decided to base my “Stranded” improvisation work to create a piece that is focused on a shipwreck, like that of ‘Neville’s Island’. The different social settings have interested me and I understand how they affect the piece, we have decided to set our drama on a ship that is in the middle of the Irish Sea and it is full of escaped convicts/murderers that steal the boat and hold its occupier hostage, who for coincidence the criminals know, They are all Irish.

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