This term paper deals with the placement of Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings in the English comic tradition. Therefore, I will first put Ayckbourn’s play within the historical context of the new drama, and subsequently define the term “comedy”. Then, I will prove my thesis that Season’s Greetings matches both conventionality and innovation with regard to comedy. In this way, I will also investigate in how far Season’s Greetings as comedy contains both farcical and tragic elements, and suits other subgenres of comedy, too. Likewise, I will analyse how Ayckbourn makes use of the comic in Season’s Greetings, and discuss if he continues the comic tradition with a new emphasis with regard to the assumption that he, like Shakespeare, writes plays for the spectator rather than the reader, among other things. In the conclusion, I will recap and reconsider the principal theses of my term paper and give my own diagnosis about Ayckbourn’s drama. My thesis matters in so far that “the continuing life that […] comedies have […] justifies our study of the genre […]”. Besides, English comedy has “the longest, most continuous generic tradition in Western literature”, in which its tendency to the meta-theatrical achieves an awareness of the comic tradition onstage (cf. Leggatt 2). Anyway, it is meaningful that serious issues of everyday life are treated in a comic way.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings in the Comic Tradition
2.1. Season’s Greetings within the Historical Context of the New Drama
2.2. The Tradition of Comedy and Farce
2.3. Ayckbourn’s Use of the Comic in Season’s Greetings
3. Conclusion
Objectives & Themes
This academic paper examines the placement of Alan Ayckbourn's play Season's Greetings within the broader English comic tradition. The research aims to analyze how the play integrates conventional comic and farcical elements with innovation, while situating the work within the historical context of the "New Drama" in post-war Britain.
- The historical development of British "New Drama" and its influence on Ayckbourn.
- Classical definitions of comedy and farce versus their application in modern theatre.
- The synthesis of tragic and comic elements in Ayckbourn’s narrative structures.
- The role of meta-theatricality, audiovisual effects, and character dynamics in establishing comic tension.
- An evaluation of Season's Greetings as both a continuation and a subversion of traditional dramatic forms.
Auszug aus dem Buch
2.3. Ayckbourn’s Use of the Comic in Season’s Greetings
As for the contents, in Season’s Greetings, domestic quarrels are stemming from misunderstandings, ignorance, jealousy, monotonous routine, and failure such as Phyllis’ alcoholism, Eddie’s misinterpretation of Neville’s job offer and his indifference toward the needs of his pregnant wife, Rachel and Belinda’s fight over Clive, and Harvey’s violent attitude toward life. Several climaxes like Bernard’s and Harvey’s outbursts of rage because of Bernard’s inappropriate puppet show, Clive and Belinda’s love affair, as well as Harvey’s final shooting of Clive turn the play both into a comic and a tragic story. Thus, family relations are brought together “in a moment of crisis” in Season’s Greetings.
With regard to genre, Season’s Greetings basically suits the definitions of comedy given in 2.2., since the play deals with ordinary, humbled, and private English middle-class people. Likewise, it is about a love affair and the abduction of others by indifference in domestic everyday situations. Hence, in Season’s Greetings, both the size of the Bunkers’ house and the characters’ professions allude to Ayckbourn’s assurance of “[…] a certain standard of living” to his characters, and to the probability that “[…] their problems are actually living”. Thus, comedy’s concern with social anxieties with regard to relationships matches the characters’ worries in Season’s Greetings.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter defines the scope of the paper, outlines the methodology of analyzing Ayckbourn's work within the comic tradition, and provides a biographical sketch of the playwright.
2. Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings in the Comic Tradition: This section investigates the play’s historical context, defines foundational genre terms like comedy and farce, and analyzes specific dramatic techniques and narrative outcomes in the play.
2.1. Season’s Greetings within the Historical Context of the New Drama: This subsection contextualizes the play within the post-war shift in British theatre, focusing on the influence of the "New Drama" and the emergence of postmodern dramatic characteristics.
2.2. The Tradition of Comedy and Farce: This subsection provides a theoretical framework by exploring historical and literary definitions of comedy and farce to establish the criteria for the subsequent analysis.
2.3. Ayckbourn’s Use of the Comic in Season’s Greetings: This subsection applies the established theoretical framework to the specific text, examining how Ayckbourn employs humor, tragedy, and stage mechanics to create his unique theatrical vision.
3. Conclusion: The final chapter synthesizes the arguments, confirming that Ayckbourn successfully merges traditional comic forms with modern experimentation to address universal human issues.
Keywords
Alan Ayckbourn, Season's Greetings, British Drama, Comedy, Farce, Post-modernism, New Drama, Comic Tradition, Theatricality, Marriage, Satire, Tragicomedy, Audience-centered, English Literature, Dramatic Technique.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this academic paper?
The paper investigates how Alan Ayckbourn's play Season's Greetings fits into the English comic tradition, analyzing its generic placement and artistic innovations.
Which specific theatrical genre context is discussed?
The study centers on the historical context of the British "New Drama" starting from the 1950s and how Ayckbourn’s work deviates from or aligns with these trends.
What is the main research question or goal?
The goal is to prove that Season's Greetings balances conventional comedy and farce with new theatrical innovations, while exploring the play's unique blend of tragic and comic elements.
What scientific methodology does the author apply?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, defining historical genre terms and applying them to the text to examine character dynamics, plot construction, and thematic depth.
What is the thematic core of the analyzed play?
The play focuses on domestic quarrels, marriage, social hypocrisy, and how characters cope with their social environment in the context of a "failed" family reunion.
Which key elements characterize Ayckbourn’s comic style?
Key elements include his emphasis on the "theatre-in-the-round" staging, the use of audiovisual effects, and a narrative structure that often hides painful truths behind laughter.
How does the author define the ending of the play?
The author argues that the ending is ambiguous, failing to provide a traditional "happy resolution," which highlights the play's tragicomic nature.
Why is Season's Greetings compared to Chekhovian drama?
The comparison stems from Ayckbourn's use of farce to explore deeper, often melancholy, human failures, mirroring the way Chekhov treated serious life issues within a comic framework.
- Citation du texte
- Oliver Baum, M.A. (Auteur), 2007, Alan Ayckbourn’s "Season’s Greetings" in the Comic Tradition , Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/123436
