Dramatic Techniques in Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell :: Shirley Valentine Willy Russell Essays

Dramatic Techniques in Shirley Valentine by Willy RussellHow do the dramatic techniques use in the play help the audience to understand the importance of Shirleys transformation? You should refer to the significance of the plays favorable and historical (settings, attitudes to womenSHIRLEY VALENTINETask How do the dramatic techniques use in the play help the audienceto understand the importance of Shirleys transformation? You shouldrefer to the significance of the plays social and historical(settings, attitudes to women, attitudes to marriage, expectations of brio, etc) context and the literary context (kitchen-sink drama,comedy, tragedy, drama, etc).The play Shirley Valentine was written by Willy Russell. Russell wasborn in 1976, near Liverpool. He left school when he was xv anddid a variety of jobs before becoming a writer. Originally he used tobe a songwriter, performing in his late teens. By the conviction he wastwenty he decided to amaze a playwright rather than his desiredo ption of teaching. In his first eighteen months schools loved his cook and he decided that he was successful enough to do it fulltime.Shirley Valentine, is the story of a middle age woman backup inLiverpool and her change in life. Russell explores the usage ofdifferent dramatic techniques to tell a complex story. We the audienceare in contact with Shirley from the beginning, because she talks tothe camera. This forms a friendship between Shirley and the audience.We become her confidante. Other dramatic techniques used by theplaywright are the use of Flashbacks and Voiceovers. In flashbacksShirley would be doing something and would drift off talking aboutsomething that had happened earlier on in the day or a previous day,so we would get all the background information, on what has been goingon. It also highlights the important events in her life to show us howshe got to this point in her life. In Voiceovers Shirley would expressher true feelings about someone whilst they would be tal king about thething that Shirley is expressing her feelings about.The opening credit depict a series of fifteen sketches that showShirley doing her everyday routine of domestic chores, with noenthusiasm. Shirley if cleaning and cooking, this tells us what herlife is like, boring. You could see that she is tired of living outher life in an ordinary marriage, with very little going on, she hasall this Unfulfilled Potential which she desperately wants tooverturn. The words of the soundtrack are very smartly adapted to thesketches shown. They tell the everyday life story of a woman that has