The Entertainer (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Osborne
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1950’s
- Setting: An English coastal town
- Principal Characters: Billy Rice, Archie Rice, Phoebe Rice, Frank Rice, Jean Rice, Graham, Old Bill
- Genres: Social realism, Drama, Problem play, Burlesque
- Subjects: 1950’s, Values, Family or family life, Tradition, Class consciousness, England or English people, Entertaining or entertainers
- Locales: England
The Play
The Entertainer is set in an English coastal town. Its action centers on the Rice family, and specifically on Archie Rice, the “entertainer” of the title. In scene 1, though, the audience is introduced to the family through Billy Rice, Archie’s father, and Jean, Archie’s daughter. In a sense these two characters represent a saner past and a more hopeful future: The present, for the Rices, is a run-down, noisy, postwar slum.
Scene 2 (like scenes 4, 7, and 13) consists of a short monologue by Archie, delivered onstage just as it would be in one of...
[The entire page is 2391 words long]
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