Explain how Arnold Wesker shows the way an everyday situation can turn into a very tense and dramatic one full of conflict in the play Little Old Lady.

by east-enders1 (student)

Little Old Lady

Explain how Arnold Wesker shows the way an everyday situation can turn into a very tense and dramatic one full of conflict in the play ‘Little Old Lady’.

The play ‘Little Old Lady’ is set on a train; the play is about no smoking in underground station because of the fire at king’s crosses station in 1980 also the play is about how people were treated in the 1980s. Arnold Wesker wrote this play to show people how people were treated in 1980s. The main characters of the play are Sam and Tracy, they are both 15 years old, Jason is 17 years old, the others in the play, don’t have a real name. The writer called them by the way they are for example; little old lady, she is 65 years old and she’s called little old lady because she’s little and old. The other characters are Harassed Women. She is 45 years old and she’s called harassed women because she worries too much. The Unpleasant man, he is 50 years old and he is called unpleasant man because he’s not a nice person. The play is set in 1980s because at that time society was changing and people were begging to care less about others. Also ,young people respected old people at that time .Arnold Wesker wanted to show people how society was in the 1980 and how it changed so he wrote a play about how people’s views and values were .

The stage directions and the dialogue show that it is everyday situation because the way people are talking to each other. Tracey says “capital of New Zealand” to Sam. Sam says “you’re getting really difficult, aren’t you? Then little old lady says “you don’t know the capital of new Zealand? This shows that it is just normal day because the way there are talking is normal and also they are playing a game and that’s normal. Also the place that is happing is in a train and this shows that it’s a normal day and people are acting normal. The setting of the play is good because it shows that it is a normal day and it’s a good place to show people how people are treated in the 1980s and how things are different now than before. The lighting goes on the person to show that he / she is speaking and it is good because u will know who is speaking. The sound that is used in the play shows that it is a normal day. “Sound of an underground train hurtling through its tube”. This shows that it’s a normal everyday situation. The way the characters are acting shows that it is an ordinary day for example what they are talking about. The stage direction shows what is going to happen and how people are reacting to the situation. There is something that is not everyday situation and that is the smoke sign.

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The characters in the play are Tracy and Sam, they are both friends, little old lady, Harassed women, unpleasant man and Jason. The characters are divided into 2 groups and that is unpleasant man on his own, because he doesn’t want to listen to any one,’ he wants to do whatever he wants and that is to smoke in the train but the other people on the train are telling him that he shouldn’t smoke . He doesn’t listen and those people that are trying to tell him that is not allowed are little old lady, Sam, Tracy, Jason, Harassed women. First the little old lady argues with unpleasant man then the rest try to help the little old lady and that’s how the characters are divided, the unpleasant man against everyone else. The actions of the characters shows tension and conflict is when the little old lady argues with the Unpleasant man shows tension in the play because it makes the play worth while drama and this is shown in the play when the unpleasant man says “ And you think yourself lucky you’re an old women “. He says this to the little old lady, the little old lady says something back to get attention, she says “NO, you think yourself lucky I’m an old women “.This shows that the man is trying to threaten the little old lady and this builds tension. The stage direction builds tension because it tells you what is happening and also what the characters are doing and saying. “The silence is long. Unease grows”. This shows that the stage direction also builds up tension when it is quiet. The writer is effective when he tries to build tension when it is quiet because it makes the play more interesting to read and the audience won’t get bored because the play is getting good and people like when something that is boring at first and then turns out to be good, makes the reader want to read more.

The authors notes at the start are explaining that this play is strictly not about race and is all based on the issue of no smoking in the underground. The author became worried about the play because in those days the race tension was really high, and thought that the director would face difficulty choosing characters for this play .He did have difficulty choosing characters for the play because if he had picked a black student to take part in the play then people will see the play as racist and in 1980 society used to judge people because of there race. “If a black student plays the anti-social character it is interpreted as a statement about race not as a fact of life”. This shows that in the 1980 society judged people because of their race. For example if there where to watch a play about real life situation and a black student is taken part then they would see the play as racist not about life situation .I think it doesn’t have an effect on the way the play is read and performed because at the start of the play the author tells you that the play is not going to be about race, it’s going to be about life situation. The reader will know what the play is going to be about and they won’t have any problems reading it and they will have some ideas about how the play is going to be performed.

I think when the characters ague or fight and the no smoking sign makes the play interesting for people to watch because in the begging of the play it was boring because it didn’t have any action but if it did then it would have been interesting for people to watch but it was good because at the start it didn’t have any action , it was all quiet and you would know that something is going to happen and that why the audience would carry on watching it because the play is going to be good but if it wasn’t then nobody would watch it , they wouldn’t find it interesting . Wesker puts a no smoking sign in the train because so people will know that something is going to happen and it did, in the play the little old lady argues with the unpleasant man because he was smoking and in the train you are not allowed and the little old lady was trying to tell the man that smoking is not allowed but he didn’t listen to her, he just ignored her. This shows that in the 1980 people didn’t respect old people at that time but children did respect old people.