Willy Russells Our Day Out Essay -- Willy Russell Our Day Out Essays

Willy Russells Our Day OutWilly Russell has written many plays over the come through thirty years, butthere is one feature that is common to entirely of them the electrical outlet ofsocial and cultural background. This is the situation of thecharacters their surroundings their class the social club in which theyare brought up, and the culture of that society. It is this that canlead to the behaviour, feelings, opinions and general vista of thecharacters. Russell explores the numbers that society and culture canhave on mass in all his plays, but in none is it so poignant as inOur Day Out, the story of what happens when Mrs Kay takes herProgress class out of inner-city Liverpool on a school trip to ConwyCastle, Wales.Throughout Our Day Out the issue of social and cultural backgroundis ever-present, but it is discussed and conveyed in many assortedforms the colloquial dialect Russell uses the symbolism that isfeatured the behaviour and attitudes of the children the way that mu ltitude react to these children, and the insights we get into theirfamily lives.Willy Russell himself said that he writes for the theatre becauseits concerned with the verbalise rather than the written word. In OurDay Out we see the importance of the verbalize word through the languagethat the children use. Having grown up and taught at a Comprehensiveschool in Liverpool, Russell knows the Liverpudlian dialect perfectly,and he uses his companionship to give a truly representative feel to theplay. The children use lyric such as aghey, ooer, and nottn,and the authentic language that the children use help to refer the playfeel more real. Because Russell writes the words as they would be speak in a Liverpudlian acce... ...ry isnt. The poignancy and intensity of the play is fairlymasked in places by the comedy, but we do catch glimpses of thehopeless, horrific situation these children are facing. As Mrs Kaysays, Ten years ago you could teach them to sales booth in a line, youcou ld teach them to obey, to expect little more than a lousy factoryjob. But now they havent even got that to aim for. Theres zero forthem to do, any of them most of them were born for factory fodder,but the factories have closed(a) down. Throughout the play this is theunderlying tone, and the subtle way that Russell conveys this messageheightens the effect when it comes. This day out is simply an oasisone day of gaming out of their whole lives, and at the end of it we seehow the glimmer of something shining and beautiful makes it all theharder to turn your eyes back to the grey and mundane.