I agree with much of the negative reactions to Priestley's play; certainly Act One(1919)is insufferable and it is only when the characters are all suddenly spewing filth against each other in the middle of Act Two(1937)that it finally sheds the typical British upper class small talk crap, even it it's not then totally believable. A better playwright might have improved and significantly tightened both of these acts, especially the dizzying introduction of all those characters, especially Conway daughters, in the beginning.
But I have a few questions:
Is Ernest supposed to be Jewish? Is there anything other than his being a "small man"(stated over and over again, mainly by the woman who eventually marries him; why??)that makes him so repuslive?
And, how is Kay forty years old in 1937 when it's her twenty-first birthday being celebrated in 1919? |
