| 1. Introducing the Play |
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After the heady period of the Seventies in Australian drama, it is interesting to return to an Australian play written in the Forties to see what it offers present-day audiences and how it has stood the test of time. Not only have recent Australian plays
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| 2. The Subtext |
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It is the subtext of the dialogue in Rusty Bugles which reveals the men's motivations, frustrations and subliminal emotions. In other kinds of drama a soliloquy can explicate the character's inner thoughts and feelings; but such public, or even private re
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| 3. Humour in Rusty Bugles |
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Much of the underlying subtext of the play and its conflict is contained within the humour. At its simplest level humour provides relief from the reality of a situation which is recognisably grim and unrelenting. It is an effective defence mechanism. At t
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| 4. Conflict in Rusty Bugles |
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There is a tendency for readers or audiences to expect drama to be large-scale, obvious and externalised. Television soap operas capitalise on this expectation even though audience plausibility is often stretched to the limit. However, whenever a group of
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| 5. Approaches to studying the text |
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It is important to recognise that a drama script is a blueprint to action. The dramatist expects that the script will be enacted by actors speaking the lines to each other in an appropriate setting. To make the lines come alive, full use needs to be made
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| 6. For discussion |
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The first comment below, by Terry Sturm, is from his chapter on drama in a recent history of Australian literature. Leslie Rees' remarks are part of a letter of protest published at the time of the first production of Rusty Bugles.
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